353
I have the means of keeping up the knowledge which I have acquired of the official language of China, I shall speedily forget what I have learned, and that my two years study in Peking will in consequence be thrown away; and, further, that unless I have the power of translation from written Chinese into English, and vice versa, no native writer can be expected to undertake the responsibility of consulting a native writer in questions of ...
There is at present no writer in Hongkong who has a knowledge of the dialect with which I am conversant, and enquiries made in Peking and Shanghai lead me to believe that I could not procure the services of such a writer as I require for less than thirty dollars a month.
That I might find a man in Canton who, while speaking the mandarin dialect possessed a thorough knowledge of despatch writing and official Chinese in general, is possible, but not probable. In the event of my succeeding in doing so, however, he would not prove so expensive an acquisition as a man from a Northern port.
(signed) F. H. May.
27th April, 1886.