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Mr. Forrest at fault in three matters.

36. Mr. Forrest has been found by us to have been at fault in two major matters; and one minor matter, that of discourtesy and lack of tact. We refer to that as a minor matter only because we are satisfied that Mr. Forrest is normally a most cour- teous and polite man, that in very many of his dealings with the public as Immigration Officer he displayed his usual politeness, patience and consideration and that it was only occasionally, and then, in part at least, because of ill-health and over-work, that he lost his temper and transgressed as we have found in an earlier paragraph.

His failure to institute a proper financial system.

37. As regards the first of his two major faults, in our opinion Mr. Forrest is not in himself to blame; but rather the Government who appointed him Immigration Officer. We are satisfied that Mr. Forrest is lacking in business knowledge and in administrative and organizing abilities. Further he is possessed of a temperament which renders him entirely unsuitable to be placed in charge of a new department, with its inevitable worries and complexities, as he is lacking in the qualities of discipline and self-control. Mr. Forrest has been in the service of Government for over twenty years and Government must have been fully cognizant of his failings in these directions.

His disobedience to the instructions of the Governor in Council.

38. For his second fault no such excuse can be found. We entertain no doubt that he deliberately, to further his own ends and give his own pet schemes a chance of proving their worth, disregarded the spirit of the instructions of the Governor in Council, and, by being a party to the supplemental agreement, did his best to render nugatory any orders which he might be given when the existence of the agreement with Kobza came to light.

Mr. Forrest unfit to be head of any department.

39.

Mr. Forrest, in our opinion, has proved himself unfit for the position of head of this, or of any other department, and we recommend that Government give the most careful consideration to the question of his retention in the public service.

Unhelpful Attitude of Treasury and Secretariat.

40. Throughout the evidence we have heard we have been struck by the unhelpful attitude towards Mr. Forrest and his needs shown by some other departments and in particular by the Treasury and the Secretariat. Mr. Forrest's evidence to us lays great stress on this point, and, in our opinion, rightly. The files which we have read, as well as the oral evidence taken by us, show a marked inclination to let things alone, hoping against hope, no doubt, that order would arise out of chaos. There is a notice- able tendency to write mordant minutes compact of destructive criticism where a little practical constructive advice would greatly have ameliorated things. Mr. Pudney's argu- ment that because he has no disciplinary powers over other departments he is powerless to intervene does not impress us. Kindness has always proved a more potent training force than the threat of punishment for both children and animals: it might with advantage be tried in the case of heads of government departments.

Government Recommended to Appoint an Officer to follow up its Instructions and see

that they are Obeyed by the Departments.

41. If the man in the street is late in his payment of war taxation or water rates Government has in force a most insistent and effective follow-up system which very soon ensures payment. If a rate-payer is ordered to abate a nuisance only a very short time elapses before the Government department concerned calls on him and assures itself that the necessary work has been well done. Cannot something of the same kind be

done as regards Government departments? If there were an officer charged with the duty of seeing that orders given were punctually and effectively carried out, Secretariat files would cease to be, as are so many of those we have had to read, a mere record of calamity on calamity. We confidently recommend to Your Excellency the initiation of some such innovation in the government of the Colony.

42. Appended to this report are a copy of the agreement between Mr. Forrest and Mr. Kobza, with the supplemental agreement endorsed thereon and a specimen of the form of temporary entry permit issued by the General Agent with the approval of Mr. Forrest.

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