placed the Interpreters of the Police Court at the disposal of the Supreme Court, filled up all vacancies in the staff of Interpreters by strict competitive examinations, and applied to all other Officials the principle laid down by the Secretary of state (despatch No.8 of 28 April, 1855), who considered a knowledge of the Chinese language as "essential generally for the Civil Service at Hongkong," and who, accordingly, established the rule "that no application for increase of salary in the service is to be made for any person who has not learnt Chinese."
85. The proper translation of documentary evidence, and a general supervision of the staff of interpreters, has also been secured.
86. The present Acting Chief Justice informs me that these changes have put the interpretation of the Court on a sound basis.
87. Some changes in the department of the Supreme Court that deals with public money were also rendered necessary. The year after my arrival, it was discovered that the Deputy Registrar had given no security as Official Assignee (to which he had been appointed in 1867), and, being called upon to give security, and to produce the accounts in the long unsettled bankruptcy case of Lyall, Still & Co., he fled to Macao, when it was found that he had misappropriated about £12,700. Having been given up by the Portuguese Government, he was convicted in Hongkong and sentenced to seven years' penal servitude.
88. As the defalcations had gone on for twelve or fourteen years, and affected many local interests, as well as the reputation of the Public Service, I felt it necessary to constitute a Commission of Enquiry into all the Offices of the Supreme Court that were concerned in the receipt of money and the management of trust property. The Commission I appointed consisted of the Colonial Secretary and Auditor, the Attorney General, the Manager of one of our principal banks, and a solicitor.
89. The Commissioners having taken evidence, reported to the Government that estates that should have been wound up ten years before were found by them unsettled; that the cash accounts in thirty-one estates in bankruptcy had never been balanced; that in many instances, the balances to the credit of the different estates had disappeared; that there had been illegal commissions, fees and interest charged or misappropriated by former Registrars. Finally, they said: "It is very clear that there has been no check whatever upon any Officer, but a most lax practice has existed for years past in the Supreme Court with regard to the accounts and the general conduct of business.”
90. Having consulted the Judges with respect to this report and the various recommendations of the Commissioners, I appointed a Court Accountant, requested the Auditor General to make an audit of the accounts every month, directed the Court fees to be paid in future by stamps, and made some minor changes in the subordinate Offices of the Court.
91. It is due to the Judges of the Court to record the fact that, for many years, the Registrar's department of the Court had not been efficiently filled, and that they had more than once requested the Auditor General to examine the accounts of the Court. The changes I was thus able to make on the advice of the Judges, will tend to prevent delays and defalcations in future, but the want of a competent Registrar is still felt.
## Sanitation and Public Health
92. The experiments at sanitation in this Colony are not without interest. The Town of Victoria (containing 100,000 inhabitants) is built on the lower slope of a hill, the top of which is about eighteen hundred feet above the Harbour. Dr. Hance, the eminent botanist, tells me that when the Colony was established forty years ago, the ravines behind the site of the present town were well filled with indigenous trees. As the ground was being opened up to make streets, a good deal of fever prevailed. Some of the doctors attributed the difficulty in curing the fever to the existence of the trees. The trees were accordingly cut down. But with the removal of the trees, the fever appeared to increase.
93. A sanitarium was built on the Peak, seventeen hundred feet above the sea. But when the doctor who recommended it went away, his successors condemned it, and the sanitarium was for some years abandoned.
94. Governor Sir Richard MacDonnell, who had some experience of the difference of residing at a high and low level on the Coast of Africa, tried the sanitarium on the Peak again, and with complete success. The Governor's example has since been followed by European merchants, and Officials who can afford to build villas amongst the hills. On the European children, especially, the good effect of the change from the hot, stagnant atmosphere of Victoria Harbour to the fresh breezes of the Peak in the summer, is very marked.
95. Of late years, the medical dictum about the fever-producing quality of trees has also been reversed, and the sanitary advantages of tree planting established.
placed the Interpreters of the Police Court at the disposal of the Supreme Court, filled up all vacancies in the staff of Interpreters by strict competitive examinations, and applied to all other Officials the principle laid down by the Secretary of state (despatch No. 8 of 28 April, 1855), who considered a knowledge of the Chinese language as "essential generally for the Civil Service at Hongkong," and who, accordingly, established the rule "that no application for increase of salary in the service is to be made for any person who has not learnt Chinese."
85. The proper translation of documentary evidence, and a general supervision of the staff of interpreters, has also been secured.
86. The present Acting Chief Justice informs me that these changes have put the interpretation of the Court on a sound basis.
87. Some changes in the department of the Supreme Court that deals with public motiey were also rendered necessary. The year after my arrival, it was discovered that the Deputy Registrar had given no security as Official Assignee (to which he had been appointed in 1867), and, being called upon to give security, and to produce the accounts in the long unsettled bankruptcy case of Lyall, Still & Co., he fled to Macao, when it was found that he had misappropriated about £12,700. Having been given up by the Portuguese Government, he was convicted in Hongkong and sentenced to seven years' penal servitude.
8S. As the defalcations had gone on for twelve or fourteen years, and affected many local interests, as well as the reputation of the Public Service, I felt it necessary to constitute a Commission of Enquiry into all the Offices of the Supreme Court that were concerned in the receipt of money and the manage- ment of trust property. The Commission I appointed consisted of the Colonial Secretary and Auditor, the Attorney General, the Manager of one of our principal banks, and a solicitor.
$9. The Commissioners having taken evidence. reported to the Government that estates that should have been wound up ten years before were found by them unsettled; that the cash accounts in thirty-one estates in bankruptcy had never been balanced; that in many instances, the balances to the credit of the different estates had disappeared; that there had been illegal commissions, fees and interest charged or misappropriated by former Registrars. Finally, they said: "It is very clear "that there has been no check whatever upon ang Officer, but a most lax practice has existed for years past in the Supreme Court with regard to the accounts and the general conduct of business.”
90. Having consulted the Judges with respect to this report and the various recommendations of the Commissioners, I appointed a Court Accountant, requested the Auditor General to make an audit of the accounts every month, directed the Court fees to be paid in future by stamps, and made some minor changes in the subordinate Offices of the Court.
91. It is due to the Judges of the Court to record the fact that, for many years, the Registrar's department of the Court had not been efficiently filled, and that they had more than once requested the Auditor General to examine the accounts of the Court. The changes I was thus able to make on the advice of the Judges, will tend to prevent delays and defalcations in future, but the want of a competent Registrar is still felt.
Sanitation and Public Health.
2. The experiments at sanitation in this Colony are not without interest. The Town of Victoria (containing 100,000 inhabitants) is built on the lower slope of a hill, the top of which is about eighteen hundred feet above the Harbour. Dr. Hance, the eminent botanist, tells me that when the Colony was established forty years ago, the ravines behind the site of the present town were well filled with indigenous trees. As the ground was being opened up to make streets, a good deal of fever prevailed. Some of the doctors attributed the difficulty in curing the fever to the existence of the trees. The trees were accordingly cut down. But with the removal of the trees, the fever appeared to increase.
93. A sanitarium was built on the Peak, seventeen hundred feet above the sea. But when the doctor who recoinmended it went away, his successors condemned it, and the sanitarium was for some years abandoned.
94. Governor Sir Richard MacDonnell, who had some experience of the difference of residing. at a high and low level on the Coast of Africa, tried the sanitarium on the Peak again, and with complete success. The Governor's example has since been followed by European merchants, and Officials who can afford to build villas amongst the hills. On the European children, especially, the good effect of the change from the hot, stagnant atmosphere of Victoria Harbour to the fresh breezes of the Peak in the summer, is very marked.
95. Of late years, the medical dictum about the fever-producing quality of trees has also been reversed, and the sanitary advantages of tree planting established.
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