29th May 1844
Present His Excellency the Governor
The Honorable Major General D'Aguilar
The Honorable Frederick Bruce
The Honorable Major Caine
The Clerk having read a Letter dated 28th May from Mr. Gordon the Surveyor General addressed to the Colonial Secretary requesting permission to practice privately as a Civil Engineer and Architect and referring to the Government Notification on the subject of the same date. The letter was taken into consideration and the Colonial Secretary was directed to reply to Mr. Gordon that his application cannot be complied with in consequence of the stringent orders on the subject from the Home Government and the great press of business which exists in his office where the arrears have accumulated from the want of a sufficient Establishment as stated.
A letter from the Surveyor General was read in reply to one from Mr. Woosnam No. 180 of the 1st May 1844 recommending that the Salary of Mr. Tarrant should be fixed at $125 per month as Clerk of the Registry Office and Keeper of the Leases and Records and It was Resolved that this Salary be sanctioned and take effect from 1st May.
A Schedule of the Establishment of the Land Office was examined with reference to the Establishment as sanctioned by the Home Government and It was Resolved that Mr. Murdock Bruce who had been hitherto acting as Inspector of Buildings should cease to hold that office in consideration that its duties belong to the Clerk of the works and that he should be directed to act as Clerk in the Office that no addition to the present number of Clerks can for the present be allowed.
It was also Resolved that the Surveyor General be directed to send in on the first of every month a report of the state of the public works showing the date and amount of every contract and explaining in every case when delay has occurred in completion.
The Clerk read a letter from the Reverend Mr. Gutzlaff dated 22nd May 1844 respecting the settlement of Fokien and Teo-Cheo men in Victoria and It was Resolved that the place for locating those applicants shall be on the site indicated by Major Caine just beyond Mr. Edger's limekiln and that their claims for Allotments shall be considered separately and not in a body for the formation of Townships or Hongs under one head.
A letter was read from the Land Office fixing the measurement of the mow a 12.93 to the acre and that there were 329.64 mows in the Wong-nei-chung and Soo-cum-poo vallies to be compensated for which at $30 per mow is equal to 9870$ and It was therefore Resolved that a warrant should be issued to the Colonial Treasurer to pay that sum into the lands of the Committee formed for investigating the several claims.
His Excellency the Governor signified his intention of devoting the newly built houses at the back of Government House to the use of the Civil Officers of the Government each house to be for two persons and of allowing the Honorable Frederick Bruce and Mr. A. E. Shelley one of them for their habitation.
The Report of the Committee for considering the claims of the Inhabitants of Choong-wan having been read by the Clerk It was Resolved that the Land Office be directed immediately to prepare a contract for levelling the hill to which those people are to be removed on the 22nd July.
(signed) J. F. Davis
Read and approved
this fifth day of June 1844.
(signed) A. E. Shelley,
Clerk of the Council.
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