quite impossible to allow the time of the public servants to be occupied with transcriptions which it is the duty of others to provide.
I have &c.,
(Signed) W. J. Mercer,
(True Copy)
Colonial Secretary.
(Copy)
The Debtor's Gaol
Hong Kong, 11th April, 1860.
I have the honour to enclose press copy of a letter delivered to the Acting Sheriff.
I also send herewith a piece of rock of several pounds weight blown a short distance into the Gaol yard from my person last night, and which if it has struck would certainly have killed me, as it came down from an immense height.
This blasting of rocks within the ...
The Honorable
M. J. Mercer, Esq.,
Colonial Secretary.