46 THE BUREAU OF SCIENCE 



States from February 16 to June 5. He was detailed to the 

 Executive Bureau from June 16 to September 23 and was retired 

 from the Philippine service on September 24. The duties of 

 Mr. Southard during his absence were performed by the property 

 officer, cashier, and disbursing officer. In order to do this a 

 readjustment of the whole clerical division was necessary. The 

 supervision of the aquarium, except the scientific collections, 

 has continued under the office of the chief clerk. Mr. L. G. 

 Thomas, stenographer and employee in charge of the filing sec- 

 tion, resigned effective October 7 to accept a position in a local 

 business house. Mrs. A. M. Seeley is handling the dictation 

 that formerly was attended to by Mr. Thomas. There have been 

 a number of changes and reassignments in the clerical personnel 

 in an effort to acquire the greatest possible efficiency in work 

 that is quite varied and has technical features. The retirement 

 of Mr. Southard has made necessary the temporary assignment 

 of Mr. F. R. Ycasiano, mechanical and testing engineer of this^ 

 Bureau, to the position of acting chief clerk. I hope to make 

 his assignment as short as possible, for there are other duties 

 for which his services are very much needed. 



The office of the Insular Auditor has made a great many 

 changes in the accounting system during the past year. The 

 present system seems to be a vast improvement over the old one 

 and is being intelligently handled by the accounting office, but 

 it appears to require more time of our employees than the former 

 system. Mr. Martinez has had greater responsibility with prop- 

 erty work, which he has handled satisfactorily. An additional 

 property officer is very much needed in order that Mr. Martinez 

 may have more available time for property inspection and care. 

 The filing of back correspondence is progressing slowly and 

 as well as could be expected. The current correspondence is 

 filed in good shape. 



The Bureau of Science has practically completed raising the 

 low levels of its grounds by excavating the good earth and ffiling 

 below with ashes from the power plant. My plan in this regard 

 has saved the Government about 1*=10,000 in filling charges, be- 

 sides providing a place for depositing rubbish that otherwise 

 would have had to be carted away. 



The breeding of guinea pigs and rabbits has not been so suc- 

 cessful as in former years, and it is now very difficult to secure 

 an adequate local supply of rabbits. Arrangements are being 

 made to import them from Japan at a reasonable price. 



