by a copy of one from Commissary Coffin on the subject of Quarters for the Major General and his staff.
In reply I am directed to observe that it has all along been and still is His Excellency's impression that the Honorable the Major General is to be considered exactly on the footing of an Officer of corresponding rank on the Staff in India, where he would draw a consolidated Staff Salary of Rupees 3333-5-4 per mensem exclusive of Rupees 600 monthly Tent allowance, when on Field Service.
That the whole of Her Majesty's troops employed in every part of China are on Field Service is so self-evident that it need not be commented on, and although it is not probable, yet it is by no means impossible, but it is by no means improbable that the Honorable the Major General might be called on by unforeseen events connected with his command to proceed to the other Stations in China at present occupied by Her Majesty's Forces.
Bearing this fact in mind, and likewise looking to the opinion which the Governor has already recorded in his Minute in Council dated on the 22nd of last month, that the Honorable the Major General is entitled to a Residence at the Public Expense, both as Commanding the Land Forces in China and as Lieut Governor of Hongkong, His Excellency recommends that Commissary General Coffin should be instructed to debit, recover and recredit the Tent allowance of Rupees 600 monthly above.