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order; it represents a curiously narrow outlook that he should
have overlooked the fact that are of the very small number of
experienced officers in my deertent Mr. Taylor could be ill
spared from his own sphere in the New Territories; still more curious that, in criticising me for having failed to provide an accounting system adequate to the department's needs, he should have forgotten not only that accountants are made and not born,
but also his own responsibility as chief accounting officer,
unless he conceived that his own duty was completely discharged
when in arrears he reported, with certain exaggeration, the shortcomings of the department without indication of me«ns of amelioration. 1t may have been blind faith in these reports which induced the Pinancial Secretary to attribute all the imperfections
to the "persons with whom I had seen fit to surround myself"
That is in a minute in the file which I handed in this morning.
ho
Again the Financial Secretary made so specific attempt to surround me with persons more properly fitted for their posts.
(v). inadequate provisioning of the department from the point of
view of office space and transport.
I have already put in documents in substantiation of these
two complaints, and it only remains to say that while the demand for more office space could not have been foreseen without actual experience of the department in full working order, the latter de and, made after ful. consideration and not before I felt that
I had behind me enough experience of actual working of my examination squads and of the financial balance to warrant a conclusion, met with very unsympathetic reception on the part of
the Financial Secretary • The result is that my department is
called upon to examine ships in all parts of the larbour relying for its transport on one v ry inadequate launch which it shares
with the Police officers on duty on the Harbour, and on hiring of
motor bouts; which besides being expensive are slow and entirely
unsuitable in not infrequent unstable conditions of the sea. For the
suno reason I am unable even to investigate the question of control
of junk traffic at Shaukiwan and other spots. Singapore Immigration
office has two launches at its sole disposal to cope with 8 to 10