250
Jory retter from
My dear Sin
Solicitor, deputy Sheriff. I believe there can be but one opinion as to the necessity of your resigning the offices of Crown
You out of the question. Office rent and clerks (no small items) entirely to maintain yourself upon in this place being too much to perform, I consider £300 a year too little for you. My residence here of between ten and eleven years has shown me that the Colony is a most expensive one, and my profession enables me to express an opinion of the amount of official duty you have to perform. The salary allowed was quite out of the question and your duties so numerous as to leave you no time to attend to private practice. Had you chosen to run into debt, no other course was open to you.
I had attended your visit here. Believe me, your duties here have left you no time for private practice, and I wish you a pleasant passage home and different success for the future.
Victoria :: S. Hickson Eg
Gashilla So. My dear Lor
Mr Hickson
Hong Kong to.
H. J. Tarrant
Yours very truly
Hong Kong 17 Sub 1857
Chony. However I truly trust that the change you are about to undergo will be for the better. I exceedingly regret that we are so soon to lose you from amongst our fraternity.
I cannot help expressing my regret at your early departure, which deprives the Colony of your services and myself of your society. But when I see you detained in town day after day up to a late hour in the evening, kept all the time at hard work and returning exhausted in body and mind, I must fully concur in the general opinion of the Colony that it is impossible for you to carry the arduous and conflicting duties heaped on you, which are far beyond the reach of any one man to perform.
Besides, from what I know of the expenses of living in this Colony, where everything is so exorbitantly dear, I consider your salary totally inadequate to your support as a Government official. As your medical adviser, however, I must view your retirement with satisfaction. During the last six weeks, while under my treatment, I have seen you suffer much from the effect of climate and exertion. And when the summer comes, these sufferings will be so much increased as to render you unfit for the performance of any duty, and your stay here impossible.
I do not hesitate, therefore, to recommend your return home at any loss by the earliest opportunity that offers itself. And wishing you a favourable voyage.
J Hickson Eg
I remain,
Even your faithfully
Rich G. Jack