With the greatest respect for His Excellency's decision in this matter, I would humbly submit, that the application of this rule in my case would bear particularly hard, in as much as the loss of the money arose from no fault of my own.
The Iron Chest in which the money was deposited was furnished by the Government to be used as the place of temporary deposit for all monies received into the Registrar-General's Office previous to its transmission to the office of the Colonial Treasurer.
That chest was kept within the office itself, and the two office Coolies allowed by the Government slept within the office for the protection of the chest as well as the other property belonging to the Registrar General's Department.
The money stolen in the chest was not retained beyond the period fixed by the Government Circular under date the 20th April 1860, nor beyond that prescribed by the Market Ordinance regulating the payment of the market rents into the Colonial Treasury.
The sum of #1819 stolen consisted of market rents the collection of which in no way appertains to my duties as Registrar General and Protector of Chinese, but is an extra duty imposed upon me for which I...