6.
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act as Registrar General the claims of his own proper office as Director of Education have been insistent and paramount.
The fact that he was for so long acting as Registrar General a position of the very highest responsibility,- should be evidence that he has not been unduly passed over or considered inefficient, It was perhaps unfortunate for him that the riots of November 2nd, 1908 occurred during his tenure of this office, and that the Government had no warning at all either of the imminence of such catastrophe, or of the extent and depth of the excitement which might be expected to arise from the course pursued by Government. The situation was very exceptional, and it is possi- ble that no Registrar General could have foreseen those things.
It is not usual for an officer to have access to the confidential advice tendered to the Governor by the Colonial Secretary or his locumtenens, and the position of the latter would be rendered diffi- ault if he were liable to be challenged by an officer regarding the opinions he had felt it to be his duty to lay before the Governor. In this case I made an exception because the circumstances of the appointment of acting Police Magistrate were exceptional.
Mr Irving's first question is apparently intended to be read in reference to the quotations from minutes cited in his letter, and he apparently assumes that you reported him as not qualified for certain posts. You did not do so, but merely stated it as your personal view that another officer was better qualified,leaving to the Governor to decide. I do not consider that Mr Irving is "disqualified for promotion" in this or another Colony, but for which particular posts he is qualified and suited is a separate question.
9 The answer to question B is that acting appointmenta
are entirely in the discretion of the Governor, who acts solely for the public interests, while not dis- regarding the claims of individuals, y How far the one or the other consideration may influence him in each particular case depends on the circunstances of the case.
The question at C has already been fully answerod.
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