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4. The obvious and primary duty of a Treasurer is to see that all Government moneys which reach the Treasury are duly credited to Government, and not stolen in his Office; and the fact of Government moneys having been stolen in the Trea- sury while you were in charge of it having been established beyond room for question, it remains for you to explain why you failed in this primary duty, and what steps you took with a view to discharging it.
5. His Excellency desires that your answer to this letter may be returned with such despatch as may be compatible with your careful consideration of the
matter.
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your most obedient servant,
G. T. M. O'BRIEN, Colonial Secretary.
H. E. WODEHOUSE, Esquire, C.M.G.
SIR,
(Mr. H. E. Wodehouse to Colonial Secretary.)
HONGKONG, 24th April, 1893.
、 I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your confidential letter of the 24th instant, and to report that in writing my letter of the 20th instant, I was under the impression that I had dealt fully with the question put before me in your previous letter.
Admitting for the moment that the abstract question of my pecuniary respon sibility for defalcations occurring in my time is answered against me, I have the honour to enquire on what evidence the Government relies as establishing beyond question that moneys were stolen from the Treasury while I was in charge, and what amounts it is considered were so stolen.
I ask this not for the purpose of evading the question of my pecuniary responsibility but for the purpose of meeting it. I should also like to know in what way it is considered that the frauds were committed.
If the mere fact of being head of the Department at the time when the frauds were committed entails pecuniary responsibility to the amount of such frauds, I can only admit that I was Treasurer from June 1888 to January 1890, and for the last few months of 1890. If, however, I can be relieved of such responsibility by showing that I exercised the ordinary prudence that could be expected from one in my position, it is material that I should know how the frauds are considered to have been committed.
I have the honour to be,
- Sir,
Your most obedient servant,
The Honourable G. T. M. O'BRIEN, C.M.G.,
Colonial Secretary.
H. E. WODEHOUSE.
SIR,
(Mr. N. G. Mitchell-Innes to Colonial Secretary.)
TREASURY, 22nd April, 1893.
I have the honour to acknowledge receipt of your letter-Confidential of 11th instant-transmitting a copy of the Report of the Treasury Commission, and call- ing upon me to shew cause why I should not be held pecuniarily responsible for the amounts shewn to have been misappropriated during my tenure of the office of Treasurer.