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I request that you will be good enough to inform His Excellency that I have given some consideration to this question since it was mooted at the interview I had the honor to hold with him on the 19th instant, and that it appears to me only just that an allowance should be made to the Colonial Postmaster General for the additional responsibility which will be thrown on him when the Postal Agencies in China and Japan are transferred from Imperial to Colonial control.
In the late inspection of the Agencies they have been brought into a better state of organization, but it will require constant vigilance to keep them in a proper state of discipline, while the two important offices of Shanghai and Yokohama will no doubt be a source of frequent correspondence in settling questions which will naturally arise out of their management and on all these matters the Colonial Postmaster General will have to exercise his own discretion in such a manner as to place the question before the Government here in such a way as to lead the Executive to a right judgment;
For these reasons I am of opinion that some allowance, in addition to the actual expenses of management, should be made by the Imperial Post Office to the Government of Hong Kong for the responsibility undertaken; and I am