PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference:-
TTIC.O. 882
1
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
No. 20.
No 21.
No. 21.
No. 22.
No. 22.
No. 23.
No. 24.
No. 25.
No. 26.
4
tions with himself, I have every reason to think that his duties are very carefully performed, and that his office is under very good regulation, and he is always ready to afford collateral assistance.
His confidential report will convey his opinion of the clerks in his office, in all of whom he seems to have every confidence.
The Treasurer, Mr. Bedingfeld.
I have very much the same opinion of Mr. Bedingfeld, who seems anxious to perform his duties with accuracy, and succeeds in doing so to my satisfaction. He also is always ready to undertake collateral inquiries of interest and importance to the community, whether they are directed to him as a Member of Council, acting in committee, or as a public officer in whom confidence can be placed.
I annex his confidential communication.
The Collector of Internal Revenues, Mr. Souper.
I believe that few men possess more integrity than Mr. Souper in all his public dealings; but, at the same time, I fear that his very keen sense of honour often gives rise to a degree of over-sensitiveness, which, to a man of his nervous and rather irritable tem- perament, often produces an enemy for the moment, where he well deserved to find a friend.
The duties of his office require to be regulated by a man possessing, as Mr. Souper certainly does, a large amount of intelligence and practical ability, and the knowledge he has acquired during a period of nearly forty years of public service in this and other colo- nies afford him the power of regulating his office with effect, and of forming a very accurate estimate of the abilites and qualifications of the subordinate officers and clerks of his His department. The only fault I can find with Mr. Souper is a constitutional one. temper is unquestionably an irritable one; but I believe the only harm that has ever resulted from it, is the harm which has resulted to himself. I am in all respects satisfied with Mr. Suuper's performance of his duties.
Mr. Souper's confidential communication is inclosed.
Since that communication was made, Mr. Wilson, who was called the "Assistant Col- lector," has died, and left a vacancy which I have provisionally filled. His successor, according to a recent law, is to have the appellation of Chief Clerk only, and I have taken the opportunity of recommending, in a recent despatch on the subject, some alterations in this particular clerkship.
Collector of Customs, Mr. Wing (acting in the absence of Mr. Cardew, on leave).
The Collector has continued absent ever since my arrival in this colony; and Mr. Wing, who has acted during that time, is a very careful officer, and thoroughly con- versant with his duties. I understand he has been very long in the Customs Depart- ment, and preserves very good arrangements and discipline among his subordinates, and in all the details of his office.
The Surveyor-General, Caplain Mann, R. E. (acting in the absence of Colonel Frume, on
leave).
The Acting Surveyor-General is very efficient in his duties, and performs the public services under his direction in a very satisfactory manner; but he has very great difficul- ties to encounter, in consequence of the want of contractors, skilled tradesmen, and artisans, for the public works, and of labourers for the roads. The agricultural interest monopolises the whole of the labour population, and is ready to secure at high wages every individual who is open to engagement.
Superintendent of Police, Mr. Rennards (acting for Mr. Dawkins, absent on leave).
Mr. Rennards is, I believe, a tolerably good and zealous officer: but not quite so actively efficient as a Superintendent of Police ought to be, considering the importance of the position, and the compound and very anomalous character of the force under his charge. Mr. Rennards, however, has acted several times in this capacity, and was taken from another department of a very different character, in which his services as Clerk of the Magistrates were considered efficient and valuable. But the office of Superintendent of Police in this country should be filled by a man thoroughly accustomed to the improved duties of the police service; and of very active and energetic habits. There are few officers who should be more carefully and judiciously selected.
Rector of the Royal College, Mr. Williams (acting).
1 am unable to say much of Mr. Williams, who is merely the locum tenens of the Rector, now absent, and about to be replaced by a successor to be selected in England. Mr. Williams is the Senior Classical Professor in the Royal College, and in that sphere he may be suffi- cient for the purposes required; but, judging from what I have seen and heard of him while acting for the Principal, I doubt whether he would command sufficient respect and
5
esteem to maintain satisfactorily the high position of Rector; besides which, if I may judge from the state of the College, a man of greater efficiency and of higher moral and intellectual powers would be required to bring it into proper order and to keep it so. His accompanying Report is transmitted: but as there has been for some time past much disunion and jealousy reported to exist in the College, the Acting Rector's report of his co-Professors should be received with some caution.
The Protector of Immigrants, Mr. Hugon.
This gentleman had a great deal of Indian experience before he came to this country, and has had much local experience since he has acted in his present office, in dealing with the Indian character. I have had frequent communications with Mr. Hugon upon the important subject of immigration, and with reference to the difficult duties of his office: and I consider him an excellent public servant and fully qualified in every way for the appointment he fills.
Harbour Master, Captain Wales.
Of long service and experience in the Mercantile Navy, Captain Wales is an excellent and well-qualified officer, and his duties are most efficiently performed, varied and respon- sible as they are in this constantly crowded harbour.
Secretary to the Council, Mr. Cummins.
I have already spoken of Mr. Cummins as Assistant Colonial Secretary. He has only lately filled this second appointment, but has been many years in the Government service, and is considered a very excellent public servant; and since the recent changes which have taken place, both in the Colonial Office and elsewhere, he is the common referee, when, as is often the case, facts and circumstances cannot be ascertained from written sources.
Civil Commissary or Officer of Civil Status, Mr. Higginson, This gentleman was appointed by the late Governor shortly before his departure, to the office which was then organised under a new title, and he has lately been confirmed in that office. Although I have little executive knowledge of his acts in that department, I have no reason to doubt his full and careful performance of his duties.
The Colonial Postmaster, Mr. Rawstorne.
I cannot attribute the imperfections of this Department to Mr. Rawstorne, because it is universally acknowledged that the great increase of public and commercial correspond- ence that has taken place within the last few years, has proved the staff and accommodation provided for the Post-office to be wholly inadequate to the services it has to perform. It is to be hoped that a new post-office and a larger staff, both of which I have strongly recommended, will give Mr. Rawstorne an opportunity of showing himself equal to his duties. Hitherto, complaints against that Department have been numerous, but inquiries have always been met by an appeal to the defect in the public arrangements in that respect.
f
Superintendent of Government Schools, Mr. Walsh.
I have not yet seen or known enough of Mr. Walsh to be able to judge whether he has all the qualifications that are required for the active and energetic employment to which his services are devoted. He seems better suited to the duties of Secretary to a Board of Inspectore than to those of an active Inspector or Superintendent of Schools. His chief excellence is in his official correspondence and in his Secretary's duties; and although an able man in many respects, wants, I think, practical experience in the working, discipline, and arrangement of schools, and in the detection of the faults and deficiencies of the teachers,
Registrar of Mortgages, Mr. Finniss.
la considered a very good officer, and quite competent to the performance of his duties.
Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Clerihew.
In many respects I have had reason to be dissatisfied with this officer as regards the performance of some of his duties, and I have had occasion to take notice of several objec- tionable acts which I could not pass by without rebuke. But I prefer giving no particulars for the present, in the hope that, by the course I have thought it necessary to pursue, the grounds of dissatisfaction may be removed.
Neither am I satisfied with the services that are rendered to the public hospital by the Resident Surgeon, Dr. Montgomery, who, although acting upon his own responsibity, is nevertheless under the supervision of the Chief Medical Officer.
Nor do I think that the superintendence of the Lunatic Asylum is such as it ought to be under the direction of Dr. Powell, and also under the Chief Medical Officer's vision.
super-
No. 26
No. 27.
No. 28.
No. 29.
No. 30.
No. 31.
No. 32.
No. 33.
No. 34.