( 16 )
Governor would himself feel bound by the decision of the majority present at the meeting, but regret to find that His Excellency, finding apparently that the decision was not in accordance with his own views on the matter, has refused to continue the payment of the Government Grant in the usual way.
The Committee would respectfully point out that the only person authorised to receive this money on behalf of the Committee is the Honorary Treasurer, who has been calculating upon this sum in his monthly disbursements on account of the City Hall and that the Trustees (in whom the ground was vested in order to prevent its alienation) as such Trustees, have no control over the Institution, the regulation of which has always been wholly in the hands of the Committee.
The Trustees, of whom there were originally three appointed and of whom one has been dead and another absent from the Colony for many years, have never hitherto claimed nor have they ever exercised any control over the working of the Institution nor was it ever contemplated that they should have; and Mr. Ryrie therefore as a Trustee has no voice whatever in the making of such rules for the regulation and control of the building as the Committee may consider necessary. As a member of the Committee Mr. Ryrie has an equal voice with the other members of the Committee, but the other members of the Committee consider that he is bound by the vote of the majority in precisely the same way as any one of themselves.
As the correspondence between the Committee and the Government up to the 13th October 1879 has already been forwarded to your Lordship's predecessor the Committee do not feel justified in further troubling Your Lordship with the same, but they would respectfully urge that directions should be given for the continuance of the Government Grant as whatever the decision come to upon the basis of settlement referred to they would have felt bound by it and they would not have consented to consider the matter in the way they did but for the expression of His Excellency the Governor's willingness to accede to this mode of settling the difficulty that had arisen.
I have the honour to be,
Your Lordship's
Most obedient humble Servant,
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City Hall,
Hongkong, June 4th, 1880.
Sir,
I am directed by the Committee of this Institution to ask whether any despatch has been received by the Government here from Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies with reference to the correspondence between His Excellency the Governor and the Committee forwarded home in October last, and, if there has been, to enquire whether you are at liberty to furnish the Committee with a copy thereof.
I am further directed to ask whether the request contained in the Chairman's letter to you of the 13th May last, has been complied with.
I have the honour to be,
Hon. F. STEWART,
Acting Colonial Secretary, &c., &c., &c.
No. 654.
Sir,
Your most obedient Servant,
(Sd.) H. L. DENNYS,
Secretary.
Colonial Secretary's Office,
Hongkong, 11th June, 1880.
SIR—I am directed by His Excellency the Governor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated 4th instant, and, in reply, to refer you to a letter that has been written to the Hon. W. Keswick, Chairman of the City Hall Committee, of to-day's date.
I have the honour to be,
H. L. DENNYS, Esq.,
(Sd.) W. KESWICK,
Secretary,
Chairman.
City Hall.
Sir,
Your most obedient Servant,
(Sd.)
FREDERICK STEWART,
Acting Colonial Secretary.
44
Dec.