CO129-523-6 Criticism of Hong Kong Administration 29-1-1930 - 3-3-1930 — Page 40

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nothing will convince me that this department could not perfectly

well be run with at least half their foreign staff. Excepting for the actual heads of the department and the senior surveyors

most of the appointments certainly the subordinate ones - might

be filled almost entirely by Chinese. As regards the outdoor

staff by that I mean overseers etc.

G

-

I firmly believe that

G

the type of European at present employed, in nine cases out of ten

reflects no credit upon us, and the services of these men might

readily be dispensed with if the P.W.D. devised a system which

they could do that would make certain of proper control. In India

I am told no foreign overseers are employed in the Public Works

Department. Full use has been made of natives, and if that can be

done there, it should be equally possible in Hong Kong, provided

the right type is employed. In every other Department of the

Government the same, more or less, can be said in regard to the

possibility of making greater use of the Chinese and training them

in Municipal administration.

The question, however, is most complex, and I do not fail

to appreciate that, unless the whole problem is understood

thoroughly by the Government in England and the latter are

definitely prepared to make it part of British policy that the

local Government of Hong Kong will be utilised as a means to an

end, full advantage cannot possibly be taken of the undoubted

resources we have in the Colony for training Chinese and

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