forwarded to Her Majesty's Secretary,
of Mate
me
Var, and received
in the 17th June after the departure of the mail).
It will be observed that the Major General's Despatch is
not only an estimation, but the opening of the voluminous and unnecessary correspondence on the subject of "Milton's Reveries", which has arisen from the Major General's repudiation of all the previous acts and decisions of successive Secretaries for War, and his predecessors in Office.
I had hoped that Your Lordship's Despatch, No:41 dated April 19th 1876 with its Enclosures had set this matter at rest,
but the Major General appears disposed to prolong it till the expiration of his tour of office and mine.
Some of the Major General's new requirements are so unreasonable, that I feel confident they would (if unnoticed) be resisted by the whole Community of Hongkong; the remarks which accompany them, are so misleading, that I have been obliged to call for a further Report from the Survey Department.