CO129-366 - Governor Sir Lugard Acting Governor May - 1910 [4-5] — Page 230

the events of which I complain in their chronological

sequence.

227

2.

My father, Mr G. J. Irving, C. M. G.,

himself the third member of my family in direct descent

who has served in the Public Service, held as his last

appointment that of Resident Councillor, Penang. My uncle

Sir Henry Irving, G. . M. G., was also a member of the

Colonial Civil Service. I was educated at Blundell's

School, whence in 1889 I went up for the Indian Civil Service

examination under the old conditions. I failed to pass by

a few places, eight I think. In 1891, I obtained a nomina-

tion from Sir Cecil Clementi Smith, then Govenor of the

Stæaits Settlements, to the post of "Junior Officer" in the

State of Perak. A nomination was in those days the only

way whereby to enter the administrative or judicial branches

of the Native States Services. I passed my final examina-

tion in Malay within eight months, the short time of prOD2--

ration as well as the number of marks I gained long stand-

ing as "records". After acting for short periods in the

Secretariat, the Land, Treasury and Audit Departments, I wag

in 1893 gazetted a Magistrate of the Third Class, with power

to give sentences of three months hard labour, and with a

limited jurisdiction in Civil cases. I performed the duties

of Assistant District Magist ate, Kuala Kangsar, for six

months. I had meanwhile voluntarily studied the Hakka diam

lect of Chineno, and was ( I think) the first Native Statos

officer who was sent to China to learn the language.

pursue my studies to the best advantage I spent a year at

KAYING CHAU