39
Dr. Eitel, laying the damages at $25,000.
5.
Mr. Johnson's visit and enquiries at Government House took place when I was not there, but on the day I returned to the Colony, 24th October, 1881, I sent for him next day and on seeing him I pointed out the inconvenience of the course he had adopted waiting till I had left for Peking before enquiring into a matter that concerned my domestic affairs, and an authoritative statement showing that on the one hand Dr. Eitel had made unauthorized and incorrect statements, but on the other that Mr J. C. Hayllar had been rightly excluded from Government House for disgraceful conduct to a lady.
6.
Dr Eitel who also read this authoritative statement on the 25th of October assured me that he had never said anything inconsistent with it; and that Mr Johnson had given an entirely wrong version of their conversation. On the 5th of November he wrote to that effect to Mr. Johnson, not by my dictation as he seems to think, but on my suggestion to him that he could hardly continue as my Private Secretary unless the matter was cleared up.