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9). The Government having gone to the great expense of a complete cadastral survey of the New Territory by a special staff lent by the Government of India, the addition of the New Territory will add little, if anything, to the work of the Surveyor of the Department.

10. An additional Land Bailiff is certainly necessary owing to the extension of the area of the Colony. This appointment should be filled locally, as a knowledge of Colloquial Chinese is absolutely essential.

11. I regret that I have been unable to endorse the views of the Acting Director of Public Works, supported as they are by His Excellency the Governor, but possibly some of the reasons I have advanced against such a large permanent increase in the staff have not been fully considered.

I have the honour to be,

The UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE,

Colonial Office.

Sir,

Your most obedient Servant,

R. D. ORMSBY,

Director of Public Works, Hongkong.

No. 843.

PUBLIC WORKS Office, Hongkong, 25th September, 1901.

SIR, I have the honour to submit the following report with regard to my pro- posals for increasing the Engineering Staff of this Department.

In June last, when forwarding the Establishment Estimates for 1902, I reported that I considered the appointment of two additional Assistant Engineers necessary in order to render the Department capable of carrying on the works in progress and of complying with the continual demand for plans and estimates of new projects (C.S.O. 1786 of 1901).

On the 11th instant, having been asked what further increase of staff I considered necessary in view of the programme of works drawn up for 1902, I stated that I con- sidered that two more Assistant Engineers would be required to carry it out in addition to the two already asked for, making four in all (C.S.O. 2219 of 1901).

Both these recommendations received the approval of His Excellency the Governor, but before the latter were forwarded to the Secretary of State, a despatch No. 265 dated the 13th August was received from the Secretary of State forwarding a communication from Mr. ORMSBY and stating that one Assistant Engineer would be appointed in the beginning of January next.

From this it appears to be necessary for me to justify my recommendations by comparing the staff of a few years ago and its capabilities with the staff of to-day and the demands which are made upon it.

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