CO882-(1-2) — Page 328

PUBLIC

RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

TILTIC.O. 882

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ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-|

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON]

Districts, Nos. 3

to fl.

Stipendiary, Nos.

12 to 15.

No. 16.

No. 17.

No. 18.

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ground of confidential communication to their prejudice. I transmit their confidential Reports.

Master of the Supreme Court, Mr. Bury.

With Mr. Bury, whose duty lies immediately in the Judicial Department, I have had little or no occasion for official communication; but I assume that he is qualified for the office he holds. I have heard nothing against his official services, except that, being now an old man, he leaves more work to be performed by his chief clerk and substitute, than would be the case if he were younger and more equal to his duties.

Registrar of the Supreme Court, Mr. Dupont.

This officer has likewise come very little within my official notice. He is a barrister, and is considered an able and clever man, and equal to the duties of his office.

Colonial Secretary, Mr. Sandwith.

Mr. Sandwith, as may be supposed from his profession and former pursuits, is an intelligent man, and would no doubt be a successful public officer in any department with which he might be familiar; and I hope he may become so when he acquires more prac- tical, as well as general acquaintance with his present office.

But he labours under the disadvantage of having been placed at the head of the most important Government office in the Colony, in which is concentrated the check and super- vision of the whole public business of the country, and in which considerable judgment, experience, and knowledge of arrangements and details are required, without having had any experience in any similar branch of public duty, so that his first official education in that respect is to be acquired in this very imperfect school. He naturally leans entirely upon the Assistant Colonial Secretary, who, although a very steady public servant, possessing an excellent memory (of great practical service in the defective state of the records) and a fair knowledge of the mere form and detail of his branch of the office duties, has not, I think, sufficient administrative capacity to suggest improvements that would be of much practical value in the present defective organization of the Colonial Secretary's Office; besides which, he has lately been frequently ill and absent from the office, and leaves no sufficient substitute in his place.

Mr. Sandwith arrived at a time at which several changes had recently taken place in the head of the Government, so that he had the additional difficulty of acquiring know- ledge of the past and present mode of transacting business, and, at the same time, of imparting the knowledge so acquired to myself, as the new head of the Government, together with any suggestions for improvements of many defects which at once presented themselves to me, and which, for various reasons, cannot, for some time to come, be effectually cured.

It will, of course, be a work of time with him to become famaliarised with the duties of his new office, and to work them out efficiently. But this, I believe, he has an anxious wish to do, although his want of experience in similar duties must greatly retard his progress; and of this he is himself convinced.

But, in the meanwhile, I have myself felt the great difficulty of the position into which it has necessarily thrown me, as well as Mr. Sandwith; for I find it impossible to place full reliance upon the practical and experienced assistance which a Colonial Secretary ought to give in working out the details of instructions which proceed from myself, or, indeed, in carrying out the details of his own official routine. The latter he must, in a great measure, leave to the Clerks of Departments, who have the duty of carrying out his instructions, and some of whom are not to be fully relied on, as his own Report testifies; and, in correcting the work of these clerks, he ought, of course, to rely on his own prac- tical experience, not yet gained, unless he leaves too much to their accuracy, which, as I have cautioned him, cannot safely be done. In an office of this important character, every miscarriage of a clerk, not at once detected by the principal, seriously affects the Adminis rator of the Government; and the feeling of responsibility for the acts of others is rather

a serious one.

The consequence of all this has necessarily been to make it expedient for me to con- sume far more time than I can spare from the higher duties of my office in examining and correcting details (when they come under my observation), which ought to be confidently left to the discretion and judgment of the Colonial Secretary, but which, under present circumstances, I cannot feel justified in leaving to his experience.

At the same time I must add, that I assume this duty very willingly in the present case; because I know that Mr. Sandwith cannot feel that full confidence in his own experi- ence which time alone will give him, and because I am aware that, as all his acts and correspondence are supposed to be mine, any mistake into which he may be accidentally drawn, must be regarded as my mistake. And although I am unable to give my attention to one-fourth part of that work of detail, I nevertheless find that my efficiency in the higher branches of my own duties of Government are, to a great degree, impaired by so mucli occupation in the lower branch, which properly belongs to others.

I trust, however, that all these difficulties, which have been felt at the outset of my career in this Government, and in that of the Colonial Secretary, in his official position

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immediately below mine, may by degrees be removed, notwithstanding they retard more efficient operations in the general administration of this Government.

The accompanying confidential communication from the Colonial Secretary gives an outline of the duties of the clerks in his office, and his opinion of their respective merits.

Of the insufficiency of the staff of this office, my daily experience of its duties fully convinces me; and, when I reflect on the changes that have taken place in that office-the want of a correct system which has prevailed there in many respects-the amount of work in arrear-the impracticability of tracing records of past transactions, and many other imperfections that I have already been able to discover, I feel less surprise at the numerous complaints that have been directed by the Secretary of State against the Despatch Branch of that office, because I see that the same complaints are equally applicable to the other branches likewise, and indeed much more so.

In fact that office, which is the grand central machine which regulates all the other Departments, itself requires a far more adequate machinery than it possesses for all its important purposes; and, before it can be brought to a proper amount of perfection, the number of the clerks must be augmented, as well as their greater efficiency secured. The duties of that office have, I am told, more than doubled, within the last ten years.

The small salaries that are given, without any progressive augmentation of their amount, and the few openings that the office affords, keeps the clerks constantly on the inquiry for improved positions, in any other branch of the service in which vacancies happen to occur; and many a good clerk, who has acquired experience in the office, has been lost, by promotion into another office, which could not be fairly withheld from him, in consequence of the very merit which makes his absence a loss to the office which he leaves. And an opening which at this moment offers in the Curatorship of Intestate Estates, has led to the recommendation of one of the best clerks in the Despatch Depart- ment, whose absence will occasion great loss to the office; although it can scarcely be refused, as it holds out an improved immediate income, of which he would otherwise have no prospect.

No. 18.

I must draw your attention to the communication that is made respecting Mr. Jeffreys. Colonial Secre- If it was considered necessary to purchase off that gentleman's antagonism as a writer in a tary's Report, public paper, it is to be regretted that he was not placed in a position in which he could do No. 18. little or no harm to the Government; but it must surely have been a great mistake to put such a man into the situation of corresponding clerk in the general branch of the Secretary's office, without making sure of his fidelity by giving him a lengthened trial elsewhere. In that particular situation, where all correspondence as to details is in a great measure left to the accuracy of the clerk, mistakes or misrepresentations that may be made, either by accident or design, might lead to very disagreeable consequences to the Colonial Secretary, and to the head of the Government also, in whose name and under whose immediate direction all correspondence is supposed to pass.

I have given private directions that this gentleman shall be very narrowly watched; and if I find there is the slightest occasion for it, I shall take the first opportunity of removing him to some less responsible post.

I need only add that with none of the clerks in that office have I been brought into immediate communication, except on some occasions with the Assistant Colonial Secretary, Mr. Cummins, who is likewise the Clerk of the Council; and with the exception also of Mr. Douglas, whom, in the absence of his brother, I have placed at the head of the Despatch Branch: of both these gentlemen I have the same favourable opinion that is expressed by Mr Sandwith.

The Procureur-Général, Mr. Dickson.

I have every confidence in Mr. Dickson, and in the manner in which he performs his public functions.

His experience in criminal and constitutional law, upon the former of which I have constant occasion to consult him, and upon the latter of which I have sometimes done so, may want, perhaps, in some respects, the experience of a more practised lawyer; but, generally speaking, his abilities and legal knowledge are amply sufficient for all the require- ments of the country; and he is very well adapted to cope with the peculiar laws which prevail here, and which would naturally become sooner familiar to a Scotch advocate than an English barrister.

I have always found Mr. Dickson actuated by the highest integrity of purpose in all his official acts and in all his personal communications with myself.

He sometimes shows a degree of over caution, which might, perhaps, be an impedi- ment to the execution of a broad and bold duty, if one of a novel character were to become necessary; but, on the other hand, that very fault would equally prompt him to the exercise of great circumspection in all other acts belonging to his official functions.

His confidential communication I likewise send.

I concur in the opinion expressed by the Procureur-Général of the efficiency of his substitute, Mr. Sholto Douglas.

The Auditor-General, Mr. Kerr.

Mr. Kerr is a very accurate, sealous, and efficient officer; and, as far as I am able to judge from the general correctness of his reports and from frequent personal communica-

No. 19.

No. 19.

No. 20.