CO129-590-11 Commission of Enquiry into irregularities in Immigration Departments 22-4-1941 - 19-12-1941 — Page 117

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order; it represents a curiously narrow outlook that he should

have overlooked the fact that are of the very small number of

experienced officers in my deertent Mr. Taylor could be ill

spared from his own sphere in the New Territories; still more curious that, in criticising me for having failed to provide an accounting system adequate to the department's needs, he should have forgotten not only that accountants are made and not born,

but also his own responsibility as chief accounting officer,

unless he conceived that his own duty was completely discharged

when in arrears he reported, with certain exaggeration, the shortcomings of the department without indication of me«ns of amelioration. 1t may have been blind faith in these reports which induced the Pinancial Secretary to attribute all the imperfections

to the "persons with whom I had seen fit to surround myself"

That is in a minute in the file which I handed in this morning.

ho

Again the Financial Secretary made so specific attempt to surround me with persons more properly fitted for their posts.

(v). inadequate provisioning of the department from the point of

view of office space and transport.

I have already put in documents in substantiation of these

two complaints, and it only remains to say that while the demand for more office space could not have been foreseen without actual experience of the department in full working order, the latter de and, made after ful. consideration and not before I felt that

I had behind me enough experience of actual working of my examination squads and of the financial balance to warrant a conclusion, met with very unsympathetic reception on the part of

the Financial Secretary • The result is that my department is

called upon to examine ships in all parts of the larbour relying for its transport on one v ry inadequate launch which it shares

with the Police officers on duty on the Harbour, and on hiring of

motor bouts; which besides being expensive are slow and entirely

unsuitable in not infrequent unstable conditions of the sea. For the

suno reason I am unable even to investigate the question of control

of junk traffic at Shaukiwan and other spots. Singapore Immigration

office has two launches at its sole disposal to cope with 8 to 10