CO129-379 - Governor Sir Lugard - 1911 [8-9] — Page 158

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31003

$1.19088.

156

by secret extortion. On this subject I have addressed you only

yesterday, in reply to your Confidential Despatch of July 11th.

when I had no knowledge or inkling of any kind that the Chamber

of Commerce were about to write in the sense of the enclosure.

In that regard as you are aware I was under the necessity of

stating that I could not exonerate Commander Taylor from all

responsibility for the loss of certain monies since the

evidence before me showed that the supervision he exercised

over his office establishment was not as complete as it

should be. (b) Emigration. I have had it in view for some

time past to transfer the supervision of emigrants entirely to

the Registrar-General's Office. It has been alleged that the

inspection of emigrants by the Harbour Master was not as

satisfactory as it might have been, but in view of the fact that

the Harbour Office is not a Chinese-speaking Department I was

inclined to blame the system more than the individuals charged

with carrying it out for any lack of adequate scrutiny or

investigation which might have hitherto existed. (c) Imports

and Exports. The inauguration of duties on imported liquor, and

the recent enactments regarding Opium, Morphine, Compounds of

Opium, and Cocaine led me to the conclusion that this branch of

the Harbour Department should be under the separate control of

a