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A..
I venture to suggest that the Director's salary could be raised somewhat, similar to the Director of the Royal Alfred Observatory, Mauritius, who receives from the Government a fixed salary of 5000 rupees per annum ($2500) with free quarters in the Observatory Building, together with the fees for rating the Chronometers belonging to the merchant ships visiting the Port.
During the time I was there from 1862 to 1874 a fee of $10 was charged for each Chronometer rated, and the number rated averaged from 100 to 150 per annum.
He also receives a small salary from the Meteorological Society which is a private Society supported by title subscription fees of its members, thus making the total amount received by the Director for his services upwards of £1000 per annum.
The formation of a Literary and Scientific Society in Hongkong would also be a boon to its inhabitants, who at present possess neither a scientific nor a Literary Society of any description; moreover the formation and maintenance of such a Society by the Director of the Observatory would keep him, and his work, constantly before the Public, eliciting public sympathy, and co-operation, also giving vitality to the Institution. As the salary of the Director...