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Henry)May having become Colonial Secretary, charges were formula- -ted against the 1st Clerk, Mr Alves, who had then served for 38 years in the Department, with an honourable record. As these charges involved matters for which I, as acting Harbour Master, was responsible, I voluntarily assumed the onus of meeting them, and we both were consequently summoned to appear before the Execu- -tive Council to answer them. No evidence was, apparently, forth- -coming in support of the charges, and the proceedings were dropped, but the charges against Mr Alves were not withdrawn. These char- -ges were not founded upon fact, but were, I believe, due to an anonymous letter, written to the Colonial Secretary. Shortly afterwards, Mr Alves retired on pension, and his place was filled by Departmental promotion, and by the appointment of a Chinese, Mr Chan Pui, as 2nd Clerk and Accountant.
77. This Officer came from the Registrar General's Department, where he had been found wanting in knowledge of English and Chinese, and therefore inefficient. He was, however, consi- -dered capable of performing the work allotted to the Accountant of the Harbour Department, which includes all correspondence outside Government Departments, and most of that addressed to the last! In spite of renewed protests from me, and from the late Captain Barnes Lawrence, who just then took up the Harbour Mastership, the appointment was made. I may add that, in his application for the post, he based his claims to promotion chiefly upon the fact that he had written an anonymous letter to the Colonial Secretary.
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