The replying quote the following Initial Letter.
M
Sir,
1872
Admiralty
19th June 1872
723
28
I have laid before my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty your Letter of the 4th Instant, in regard to the official precedence to be accorded to the Commodore at Hong Kong, and I am commanded by their Lordships to request you will inform the Earl of Kimberley that they consider it a somewhat inconvenient arrangement that the precedence of Commodore should be altered by the circumstance of the Naval Commander in Chief happening to be present.
Under Secretary of State for the Colonial Office
2.