Sessional_Paper_1901 — Page 307

HONGKONG.

803

No. 13

1901

REPORT OF THE ACTING SUPERINTENDENT OF THE BOTANICAL AND AFFORESTATION DEPARTMENT FOR 1900.

Laid before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Governori

No. 11.

BOTANICAL AND AFFORESTATION DEPARTMENT, HONGKONG, 28th February, 1901.

SIR,I have the honour to submit for the information of His Excellency the Governor the Annual Report on this Department for the year 1900.

STAFF.

The Superintendent, Mr. C. FORD, F.L.S., left for home on the 31st March, on six months' leave, on account of sickness, and his leave was extended for another period of six months from the end of September.

The Assistant Superintendent, Mr. W. J. TUTCHER, was acting as Superintendent from the 1st April to the end of the year.

The Head Clerk, Mr. WoNG KWONG-MING, resigned ou the 31st March, and the Second Clerk, Mr. WONG LUNG-1, was promoted to the vacant post.

Mr. YAM KWAI-UN was appointed to fill the post of Second Clerk, and he commenced his duties on the 6th April.

The Head Foreman of the Gardens, HUI SAN-YAU, was removed from his office in February, under circumstances already reported in C.S.O. No. 346 of 1900, and LI KAU, who had been pre- viously employed in the Gardens for a great number of years, but who resigned on 31st December. 1899, was re-engaged and appointed as Head Foreman.

The Foreman of the Propagating Department, and one of our best men, LI SHING, resigned on the 15th July, having obtained a much better situation at Macao, at a salary of $15 per mensem. His salary here was $9 per month. The man appointed to succeed him, HUI YUK-CHA, was a very capable man, and began his career in the Gardens as an apprentice. He left, however, after having been in the post about six weeks, for a more lucrative appointment at Matupi, at a salary of $25 per month, under an agreement for 3 years.

In addition to the above, the changes in the staff were very numerous, no less than 41 others, making a total of 45, leaving the service during the year, compared with a total of 18 in 1899. Of these, 30 left, 9 were dismissed, and 2 were sent to Gaol.

This rendered the carrying on of the work of the Department extremely difficult, as the men who were brought in to fill vacancies were just ordinary coolies without any technical training whatever, no others being obtainable at the wages offered.

It was thought that when the system of apprentices was instituted between 20 and 30 years ago, that in time the Department would be possessed of a staff of trained men, but unfortunately this has not been the case.

Of the many boys who have passed through their course of apprenticeship only five remain on the staff, the reason being that as soon as they have got a knowledge of their work they are able to obtain more remunerative posts elsewhere. The only way to remedy this is to give deserving men better wages.

Sickness amongst the Chinese Staff was very great as usual, there being a total of 559 days. Although this compares favourably with the previous year, with 858 days, it is still anything but satisfactory. Fifty-nine different men were sick, against 62 in 1899.

The apprentices have continued to attend the Police School during the year, by the kind permis- sion of the Hon. F. H. MAY, C.M.G., Captain Superintendent of Police.

BOTANIC GARDENS.

PLANT SALES.

Plant sales continue to increase, as during the year 3,451 plants were disposed of, being an increase of 641 over the previous year's sales.

Of these, nearly 3,000 were sold for decorative purposes, no less than 2,042 Maindenhair Ferns being included in this number, of which 1,370 were the ordinary Adiantum cuneatum,