Enclosure 17.
505
General Test Office Wanchai, 16 November, 1890:
The Right Honourable Lord Knutsford, G.C.M.G.
H.M. Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies.
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My Lord,
I beg most respectfully to submit for your Lordship's consideration my petition for a personal allowance of $20 per mensem, based on the grounds which I shall proceed to enumerate.
Under the new scheme for the readjustment of salaries, instead of receiving an increase, I shall be placed at a disadvantage, for the increase I shall be entitled to amounts to $4 per mensem on my present salary, while on the other hand I shall be required to contribute to the Widows and Orphans' Pension Fund to the extent of $5.74, which means an actual reduction of $1.76 on my present emoluments.
Having a wife and several children to support and spending most of my time at sea as a Marine Officer, ...