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I need not trouble you here and now with a statement of the grounds on which the prayer of that petition is based.
They are, in effect, the same as those urged by me in my speech in opposition to the Bill before the Legislative Council and they will appear at length in the petition. I have only to beg of you that you will be so good as to move His Excellency the Governor not to give his assent to the said Ordinances until the decision of Her Majesty the Queen has been taken thereon, or if His Excellency's assent has already been given, to suspend the coming into operation of the Ordinance until Dr. Fisher's appeal against the provisions of the measure have been considered.
I have the honour to submit further for the consideration of His Excellency the Governor, whether he can lawfully assent to the said Ordinance, the Bill when introduced to the Council being one distinctly affecting private right and vested interests, and not having been published in the Hongkong Government Gazette three times before being committed, and no notification of the intention to introduce it having been given to Dr. Fisher or to the other Medical men in whose status it was proposed to effect a change.
In this connection, I would ask permission further to submit for...