496
of the 15th April 1858 - 14th that the abatements were not taken for the purpose of forming a fund from which pensions would be payable, but as part of a general system under which all persons who were entitled to the benefit of the Act 4 and 5 Vict. Cap. 24, were liable to this deduction; and Secondly, that the amounts deducted were properly carried to the credit of the Imperial Government, because that Government had to make good much larger sums in order to supply the deficiency of the Revenue of Hongkong.
I would be most respectfully to submit in reply that the non-existence of a specific Superannuation Fund appears to me to be immaterial as regards the case between the Colony and the mother country. The abatements were paid to the Imperial Government and applied, I presume, to Imperial purposes.
8. With regard to the second reason advanced, I could but observe that Parliament has not double contributed more liberally towards the establishment of this Colony, which, being, when ceded, a mere barren rock, could not be expected to become at once self-supporting. But that fact