CO885-(11-12) — Page 201

PUBLIC

RECORD

OFFICE

Reference

C.O.882/12

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON:

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

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and accounting duties with those of the Colonial Secretary will impose an intolerable burden on the latter officer especially as he will be new to the Colony. The close personal contact which the Colonial Secretary should maintain with public bodies and their members entails constant interviews and consultations on all manner of subjects and his duties on Boards and in the Council of Government make a larger call on his time and energies than those who have no experience of these duties may realise. I have also laid emphasis on the need for close personal supervision by a financial officer of senior standing over the actual process of re- organization and the multifarious changes in laws and regulations which are involved.

7. The proposal that after the combination of duties has been effected the Secretariat should be controlled by a Colonial Secre- tary with two assistants will also I think give rise to difficulties owing to the lack of adequate provision for absence on leave. As the Colonial Secretary administers the Government during the absence of the Governor there are four persons affected by the leave arrangements, viz., the Governor, Colonial Secretary, and the two assistants. Assuming that on an average each of these is absent on leave once in three years for periods of six or seven months there will very seldom be a time when all four are present in the Colony.and the Secretariat will constantly be shorthanded in its higher staff. The Chief Clerks in charge of the branches would not possess the initiative or influence to take charge of their respective branches for prolonged periods, more especially on the personnel side, as under the proposed system it is anticipated that the Assistant Colonial Secretaries must exercise a considerably wider initiative than has been customary heretofore: the burden on the Colonial Secretary would thus again be unduly enhanced. In reducing by one the number of senior officers available of Executive Council status" the necessity of provision for acting duties must not be overlooked.

8. The proposal to divide the clerical service into two grades instead of seven seems sound in principle but involves a sharp break with local traditions and may entail a good deal of hardship on the present clerical officers whose prospects would be materially affected. It might, however, I think be attempted as part of a general reorganization though some modifications in respect to existing members of the clerical service may be found necessary. I think the proposal will meet with general opposition.

Treasury and Customs.

9. It is convenient to deal with these two departments together as the proposals concerning them are largely interdependent. The transfer of "* indoor revenue and excise duties to the Customs Department is advisable and I think feasible, though I doubt

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hether the field for retrenchment will be found to be quite as large as the Commission contemplate. If it is carried out how- ever it will, in my opinion, be essential to strengthen the Customs by an additional officer from outside the Colony, experienced in The Revenue Branch of the revenue and customs duties. Receiver-General's Department has suffered greatly from the lack of personal supervision by such an officer and one result has been the prevalence of illicit distillation to an extent which is little short of an open scandal. It should be frankly stated here that the Revenue Staff has almost entirely forfeited the public con- fidence and it is commonly stated and believed that few of its mem- bers are free from participation in a system of widespread bribery. It is impossible to say definitely how far this opinion is justified but I have been so repeatedly assured that this is the case by persons of all classes, including some who spoke with a full sense of responsibility that I am forced to believe that there is in fact This is borne out by considerable justification for this view. evidence which has come to light of the extraordinary outlook dis- played by minor officials in one or two cases in which accusations of bribery have been made, in which the attitude of both accusers and accused made it clear that whether the particular charges were true or not corruption amongst minor functionaries was a matter to excite no surprise. The transfer of the Revenue functions to the Customs will do nothing in itself to restore public confidence as the Customs officials are by no means free from a similar suspicion in the public mind. Certain discoveries recently made by the Audit Departinent as to the falsification of numbers of duplicate invoices filed with the Customs Department have awakened grave suspicion as to the integrity of the examining officers. Until these matters have been further investigated it is impossible to say how far the examining staff may be implicated-if not corrupt, they appear on the evidence so far adduced, to have been criminally careless in some cases. Meanwhile rumour is busy and it is significant that the existence of dishonesty in the Department is widely accepted as almost a matter of course.

10. In these circumstances it is essential that no opportunity should be lost of increasing supervision by independent officers from outside the Colony and the proposed amalgamation of Revenue and Customs duties affords such an opportunity. If the present sus- picion as to corruption among the examining staff is found to be justified by further inquiries an unanswerable argument in favour of this innovation would be supplied. In my opinion at least one additional European officer trained in Revenue and Customs duties should be secured. With this addition the combination of Customs and Excise duties should be an advantage, though I am not pre- pared to accept without detailed examination the full extent of the proposed retrenchments. The new post might be entitled

Supervisor," and I suggest a salary of Rs.9,000 per annum.

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