CO129-122 - Sir MacDonnell - 1867 [5-6] — Page 174

3.

170

disputes of a principally Chinese origin, whilst that office is also at present entrusted with the collection of the various dues and rents leviable on account of the Markets. Nevertheless the management of those places is at present rendered more difficult and complex than the case at all requires by its division amongst several departments. Thus the Inspector of each Market is nominally an officer appointed by the Superintendent of Police, and comes on his pay list, though he is otherwise entirely beyond his control.

The rents are collected by the Registrar General, whilst the immediate letting of Stalls and arbitration of differences is left to the Surveyor General, an officer already overloaded with business, and whose regular duties and special aptitude profession confer on him for the satisfactory arrangement of such details. At present the important posts of Inspector of Markets are held by the most worthless members of the Police force, men considered fit for nothing else, and I regard this arrangement as peculiarly detrimental to the Public interests.

I consider the exact and equitable administration of the several mutual rights and obligations created by the Market Regulations to be a matter of peculiar importance to the natives affected thereby, and I have no doubt that the character of our general administration depends more upon the mode in which such details are dealt with than on legislation of apparently important character.