Downing Street Colonial Secretary
17th September 1858.
Hong Hong
...
In June last Lord Stanley then Secretary of State for the Colonies, was pleased to grant Extended leave of absence until the departure of the first mail October, and I think (for I have not the Correspondence at hand) I was then also informed that his Lordship would give consideration to my application for Employment otherwhere than in Hongkong. Having heard nothing further on this latter point, it becomes necessary that I prepare to return to the Colony, and I have therefore the honour to request that the usual Admiralty Order may be forwarded to me for a contract passage from Marseille to Hongkong by the Steamers of the P. & O. S. N. Co., carrying the mails that will leave London on the ... of the proximate.
I have the honour to be,
Your most obedient
humble Servant,
[Name]
Member of the Executive and Legislative Councils of Hongkong
To
Herman Merivale Esq.
Under Secretary of State for the Colonies
Page 339
20 Sept. 58.
Parcage ordered for mail of Oct.
9597 Song
140
772h
1858