93
made, as there was no stock; domestic furniture was borro wed
from the Controller of Stores, and when that also failed
furniture was hired wherever it could be ootained, and on such
terms as one could make in such an emergency; on the other hand
as no one with any experience of such work was to be found,
every addition to the staff, from the grade of office coolie
upwards, hud to be trained in his autiaa; Mr. Lee being fully
occupied with such outside work as preparation of the Depot for
its purpose, and selection of a new inmigration wharf after the
one originally selected had been shown on survey to be unsafe
and unsuitable, finding quarters in the New Territories for the
staff who were soon to be sent out there to control ingress on
that front. Mr. Lee was also at the time removed from the office
altogether first for his own period of Volunteer training from
19th to 24th November, and later to take the place of the
Private Secretary to B.3. the Governor when the latter was in
turn required in camp from 3rd to 9th December, so that prac-
tically all the work of instruction of the raw staff fell on
myself, as the only remaining officer apart from the clerical
staff with even the remotest acquaintance with Government
methoca. I was moreover at that same time as I have said
acting also as F.M.G.,a post of which I was not finally relieved
until after 16th December.
-
The clerical staff itself soon c eased to expand,
because my first clerk, Mr. Chan Kwok wing, whom I had specially
chosen for that post on the basis of sixteen years' knowledge of
his honesty and ability, found that he had no time available
to train temporary clerks, the only men offered him after the
first ten men in that grade had been supplied.
The obvious remedy for this state of affairs was
decentralisation, with a view to lessening the overcrowding and
overwork in the Head Office, and this was accordingly tried,
some of the best trained and most dependable men being sent in the first place to take charge of detachments in the Depot, in
Page 90Page 91
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.