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Board altogether, and create a new Government Department, and call it the Sanitary Department, where all the Officers, high and low, shall be appointed by the Government, entirely subject to Government control, and held directly respon- sible to the Government. Such a Department would have my qualified approval and, I believe, that of the public also. In troublous time the Government, through this Department, would have complete charge of, and control over, the sanitation of the Colony, and would have no excuse for neglect of duty.

But I am strongly against the reconstruction of the Sanitary Board on the line as proposed, viz., three Government Officials and two Unofficials; the former to consist of a Medical Officer who is to be President, a Sanitary Engineer, and the Superintendent of Police, or some other Government Officer who may be selected by the Government; the latter, I understand, will be appointed by the rate-payers as at present. The preponderance of the official element at once indicates the position of the two Unofficial Members, who can have nothing but a consultative voice in the Board. Will this give public satisfaction? I think not. Will it even give satisfaction to the two elected gentlemen themselves? I am certain that it will not. In common with others, I am a strong advocate of the principle--"equal power, equal responsibility;" but deprecate half measures and divided responsibility.

In the proposed new Board neither the President nor any Member could be held to be entirely responsible to the Government, because his actions will have to be controlled and regulated by the decisions of his colleagues. But if the Pre- sident be invested with the power of commanding the official votes whenever it suits his purpose or views, then the presence of the Unofficials on the Board, nay, even of the other two Officials as well, would be quite unnecessary.

The present Board has a majority of Unofficial Members, two of whom are elected by public suffrage. If the presence of the Unofficial Members in the Board had not assisted in carrying out the duties of the Board in a satisfactory manner, why have any more Unofficials in the new Board, but if their advice and assistance had been of use, why seek to cut their number down so as to weaken their influence? If the present Sanitary Board is a failure, let those who think and say so point out the true cause clearly and unmistakably, and it will be time then to consider the remedy; but it seems absurd to alter the constitution of the Board on specula- tion, simply because the Board was considered by a few to have failed in the discharge of its duties on some particular exceptional occasions. The proposed new Board seems to me nothing more than the Sanitary Board with its Unofficial Members greatly reduced in number and with an enormously increased staff under it. Such will never command my support.

3rd November, 1894.

(Extract from the Retrenchment Committee's Report.)

SANITARY DEPARTMENT.

HO KAI

217. With respect to the Sanitary Department, the total cost of which is set down at $62,557 composed of:-

Personal Emoluments,

Other Charges,

$ 24,272 38,285

we beg to state that we are unable to recommend any decrease in the cost thereof, but would call the attention of the Government to this important department with a view to the early consideration of the question whether the whole sanitary system of the Colony should not be placed on a different basis and all the sanitary arrangements and powers placed in the hands of one thoroughly competent officer who should be personally responsible to Government for all matters connected with the health of the Colony and for the carrying out of all sanitary laws and regulations.

218. If the officer selected for this important office be an engineer, he should have under him a duly qualified health officer, but if the head should be a medical man, then he should be assisted by a sanitary engineer to carry out the necessary work and, in either case, with a staff sufficient to see that the sanitary regulations and laws are duly observed and carried out. It might be made part of the duties of this officer to furnish periodical reports to the Government which might be published for general information.