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little doubt that the unbroken residence entailed upon English officials in Hongkong by the nature of their duties unrelieved by that change of scene and climate which is possible in Consular service by interchange of duties, renders the effects of the climate more severe than is the case elsewhere in China. 8. We trust therefore that your Excellency will feel yourself able to forward this memorial, supported by your own favourable recommendation, unwilling to believe that when the case is fairly placed before the Secretary of State for the Colonies, his Lordship will allow any such great difference to continue to exist between the two sets of public officers who are employed side by side in Her Majesty's service in this part of the world.
9. The principle of reckoning two years' service as three, is already recognised by the Hong Kong Pension Minute in respect of the first ten years' service of Public servants; and in asking to be allowed to reckon our subsequent service on the same scale for the purpose of pension, we seem to ourselves only to ask that a principle, the justice of which is admitted, may be carried out to its legitimate conclusion.
10. We also venture to hope that the Right Honorable The Secretary of State...