207
which has been sometimes adopted, though not invariably, be abandoned.
14
4.
not aware
Her Majesty's Government were of this distinction, by race were which Chinese Officers of Hongkong not for some years given pensions, - though entitled to them under the minute sanctioned by the Lords of the Treasury and the Colonial Office,- until Your Lordship noticed it in 1873. In the Despatch No. 115 of the 7th of August of that year Your Lordship writes to Governor Sir Arthur Kennedy saying you do not understand how such distinction had arisen.
Sir Arthur Kennedy in reply expressed his agreement with the change his predecessor (Sir Richard MacDonnell) had made, and stated his reasons for maintaining the distinction. He was under the impression that the Chinese Officials neither expected nor wished to get pensions; and, acting on that representation, Your Lordship conditionally sanctioned the exceptional treatment of Chinese. I have satisfied myself, by careful enquiry, that my predecessor was not accurately informed as to the views of the Chinese subject, and that the reluctant and conditional consent Your Lordship gave to the race distinction, which would deprive the majority of the Officers of the Colonial Government of pensions, was
Dec.