CO129-545-2 Government House and city development scheme 13-10-1933 - 12-1-1934 — Page 22

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One of the latter posts will be supplied by filling the

vacancy which arose on the retirement at the end of

last year of the former head of this sub-department. The

other two will be new appointments and will like the first

be on the permanent establishment, the Board being satis-

fied that the Convention will involve a permanent increase

of work of a volume calling for at least this increase of

staff. Whether a further increase is necessary to maintain

the status of Hong Kong as a first class port of survey the

Board is not prepared to say at present, but recommends

that the question be further studied six months after the

application of the Conventions to Hong Kong has taken

place. These increases in work and staff will of course

be reflected in the fees received for surveys, but the

amount receivable in this respect cannot be gauged with

any accuracy until the surveys begin and the increase of

$5000 under this item is therefore a mere guess.

As regards other sub-heads of the Harbour Department

Vote it will be noted that "Other Charges" show a reduction

on last year's estimate of over $60,000. Further it has

been decided that the sum of $50,000 provided for an

Infectious Cases Launch under Special Expenditure can be

saved by a change in transport arrangements which I shall

explain in dealing with the Prisons Department.

Air Services.

Under Air Services provision is made for the

staff that will be necessary for the proper operation of

our aerodrome as a Commercial Airport. When regular air