C.
the
request you to submit, on my behalf, some further considerations in connection with this subject, to His Excellency Officer Administering the Government of Hongkong, which I trust will have the effect of reversing the decision already arrived at.
C
In the autumn of 1883 I was instructed by His Excellency Sir G. Bowen, to proceed to Peking and study the Mandarin language under the auspices of Chinese Secretary of Legation. During my period of study, which lasted over two years and four months, I passed three examinations with great credit, as the several reports of my examiners will show. In due course I returned to Hong Kong, having acquired such a knowledge of Mandarin that Mr. Hillier felt justified in pronouncing me "fully competent to undertake ordinary interpretorial work" and went on to eulogise in very strong terms the progress which I had made in the language.
Having made enquiries in Peking with reference to the amount of remuneration a Pekingese teacher would expect, if I were to bring him to Hong Kong with me, I found that $30 was the lowest figure which would tempt a man to undertake such a long journey. Enquiries made in Shanghai elicited the same fact. I therefore...
Page 359
Deferred