M CF Macdonald to the Master of the Royal Mint
Hong Kong,
30th June 1864.
I am much obliged by your offer to propose me for the situation of "Superintendent of the Bullion Office" in the Mint of Hong Kong, which you have for some time left open for my consideration.
I have carefully thought over the whole matter and had the salary which you are authorised to offer been more liberal, I should have been disposed to consider it favourably; but $800 a year, in a hot and reputedly unhealthy climate, without any arrangement regarding residence, with expensive living, with the heavy charge for the education of my children at home, the loss entailed by the advanced premiums on my Life Insurance Policies, and the weighty and responsible duties of this position in a new Mint, which may devolve on me, can $600 dollars, per diem, appear to me an inadequate remuneration.
There being a long...
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Master of the Royal Mint.