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THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 4TH JUNE, 1879.
THE SUPREME COURT.
HIS EXCELLENCY.-I also felt it necessary to inquire into another subject, namely, the practice and procedure respecting the receipt, custody and disbursements of all monies and valuable securities in the hands of officers attached to the Supreme Court. That Committee was appointed also in Sep- tember, 1878, and I am happy to say that the Commissioners who were good enough to investigate that important subject have taken very great pains with their work. Owing to the illness of the Attorney General, and also the illness of Mr. MAY, the report is signed only by two Commissioners, namely, Mr. JACKSON and Mr. WOTTON, but it is a report which I think will carry with it the public opinion of the Colony, and I have already been able to ascertain that His Honour the Chief Justice coincides in the main with the recommendations of the Commissioners. I need not enter now into the causes which induced me to issue this Commission, nor is it necessary for me to describe at any length what the Commissioners found the state of things existing to be. They say that the cash accounts in thirty-one estates in bankruptcy were under the control of one person, and had never been balanced, that in many cases the balance of estates had disappeared, that in several estates there had been overcharges of commission, that in one estate, under the charge of Mr. HUFFAM's predecessor, there had been over $1,000 overcharged, that in certain estates Mr. HUFFAM had charged commission on money never re- ceived. They say there are numerous instances of the overcharge of commission and other serious errors. They say that in ordinary bankruptcies a very eminent book-keeper examined before them found the accounts in a very confused state, so much so, that it was almost impossible to make anything of them, and that as a rule there were no papers filed with the estate. They referred to other incidents in the conduct of those officers of the court which certainly no one can read without very much regretting. They say that not only have there been grave irregularities in the accounts, but that in some instances estates that should have been wound up ten years ago remain to the present day unsettled; that it is very clear there has been no check upon any officer, but that a most lax practice has existed in the Supreme Court in respect of the conduct of business. They say that through the courtesy of the Chief Justice the Commission were able to peruse some long and valuable letters written by His Honour at different times, and these letters are printed in the appendix. The Com- missioners consider that they should be perused in connection with the report. The Commissioners then proceed to make a number of recommendations, and I will only inform the Council that, on the day I received the report, seeing at once the extreme gravity of the facts disclosed, I requested my Honourable friend Mr. MARSH, who is our Colonial Secretary and Auditor General, to confer with the Attorney General and draw at once a draft of instructions which it might be necessary to issue without any further delay, whilst some of the other recommendations of the Commissioners might be receiving more mature consideration. The consequence was that, on considering the instructions so drawn up, I directed a letter to be written to his Honour the Chief Justice and his colleague, the Acting Puisne Judge, and a few sentences from that letter will let the Council know what has been done.His Excellency then read the letter, which was to the effect that His Excellency has decided, on the strong recommendation of the Chief Justice and the Acting Puisne Judge, that Mr. BARFF be relieved from all court duties and that he should be provisionally appointed to act as Accountant, and that he should be in charge of the duties mentioned by the Commissioners in paragraphs 3, 4, and 9, of the report. Mr. BARFF would therefore relieve Mr. PLUNKET of a part of his duties and receive the same salary as at present. His Excellency had also decided to appoint provisionally Mr. SANGSTER and Mr. Mossor, to be Deputy Registrars, in addition to their previous duties; that the Chinese shroff should be relegated to the Accountant's department, that all monies received should be lodged in the bank to the credit of the Government, all payments be made by order on the Treasury, and that the accounts should be audited monthly.
The CHIEF JUSTICE.-It was with very great satisfaction that I received this letter, because I think His Excellency will believe and must have seen that in point of fact it carries out the view which Mr. FRANCIS and I had with some care eliminated after seeing this report, but in point of fact the report itself gives me the greatest satisfaction, because it throughout refers to my frequent request for action in the matter of the officers and the business of the Supreme Court. From the time of Mr. ALEXANDER's death to the present I have urged the reconstruction of the affairs of the office and with what success the public is now well aware. My letters, at least some of them, are here, but the most important parts of these letters cannot now be found. Referring to very delicate matters, I kept no copy, and wrote my own letters to the successive Governors. The Commissioners have stated that they entirely agree with my propositions, excepting 'some small minutiæ. I had always had a sort of sensitive feeling about the accounts and state of the funds, but, as it is well known, I have no power in that office. There is no officer in that office who has to look to me for promotion or anything else. I have some power just to apportion the duties, and when I attempted to do that in Mr. ALEXANDER's time it was said I was interfering beyond my duty, which was judicial and not connected with the detail of that office. Years before the late catastrophe I had given expression to my views that unless something was done there would always be the risk of a catastrophe, but certainly no one expected the catastrophe which occurred. With regard to Mr. ALEXANDER himself, I certainly did not very much admire him as a public officer; he was a great deal too independent for me;
I could never get any control over that office, but I believed him at the time to be the best officer in the Colony. I don't agree with the views that were put forward on a one-sided consideration
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