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my salary...
I was sent out here some time ago for the purpose of Auditing the Colonial and Consular Accounts, holding however only a Colonial Appointment as Auditor General. My salary was then fixed at £800 half to be paid from Consular funds and the other half by the Colony. Even then I found this salary small as compared with those received by other heads of Departments, and more particularly so compared with the emoluments received by the employed of the different mercantile houses.
I did not however make any representation on the subject thinking it better to defer my application until I had obtained a thorough knowledge of the working of the Office.
At that time my duties consisted of the Auditing of the Colonial Accounts; and of those of the Superintendency of Hong Kong and five Consulates. The Colonial Accounts still remain the same, whilst that of the Consular Accounts has quadrupled. The authorization and directions of the funds for Consular services and the necessity for a check on the accounts of themselves important trusts - but in the Audit branch alone the number of Accounts to be audited has increased from Five to Fifteen under my head, and nearly Seventy thus under a single head.
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The assertion that the salaries of the upper Clerks in the Mercantile houses in China range from £300 to £1500 per annum with free housing, living and other advantages...