343
be
the present ura. 6. What
difficulties not
seat holders, and that there
may not be anticipated when management
was made,
was t
origin of that
arrangement I know not, but it
strikes me that had it not been
for the military, the Government
would not have been so
liberal
And
ready
they have
done to the creation and keeping
in
order
of
the Patho
The
Government has always paid two-
of building
or repairing
expenditure, and it has continued
its contribution
on the Cathedral for more
than twenty years after relinquishing giving assistance to Ecclesiastical efforts in the Consular Ports. As your Excellency has pointed out, this is not a Colony in
any real sense. It is
the
borders of a country that once was
hostile
and
may be
again. The
Military therefore are really the chief
feature of Hong Kong in the eyes of
the Government. It was they chiefly,
no doubt, that the
Government was induced to contribute
so liberally for the erection of a
Church which should be
a permanent place of worship for
the permanent Garrison. If this
was the motive, and I think it is
far more likely than providing
religious services for a few civil
servants, it is
well that the
Government should be reminded
that the yielding up
of
the control
of
the Cathedral to the seat-holders
means taking the building away from the Military unless by the test-
and
such conditions
as they may
see fit to impose.
7. Taking for granted that
at all costs the threatened
change is to be in due time carried out, the Government cannot be
indifferent