9
351
observe from the copies of correspondence annexed to the Enclosure that the Acting Registrar General, Mr. Lockhart, raises the further question whether some inducement should not be held out by Government to Mr. May to undertake now the study of Cantonese. He has fulfilled his part of the Contract with Government by passing creditably in the official language of China, and I do not see how he can be required to incur any expenditure in learning a dialect
277th April, 1886, 84 14th May + 18th May
Enc. 5
(since received)
which is so different that it is a well-known fact that natives of the North and South of China sometimes communicate with one another by means of the jargon commonly called "Pidgin English" etc.
I would beg also to call Your Lordship's attention to a memorandum which I submitted to Sir George Bowen in March 1884, when I anticipated the difficulty which