The use of furniture
in Government House, Hong Kong
I much regret that I have
not previously replied to your letter of September. With a
I made request to you to stop
deducting from Hongkong Bank remittances the amount of
percentage I had already paid, and
since the Account rendered
I was incapacitated for many weeks from reading or attending to correspondence
hence the matter
remained unsettled until now.
I find that the
whole
of the Account claimed are in respect
of periods when I was absent from Hong Kong,
and
I was not aware of
a rule which was understood
to be in force until the 23rd ult. Last, my
papers having come to hand on the 6th instant,
I herewith enclose cheque for the
amount claimed!
but I must respectfully,
and at the same
time firmly, protest
against a demand to pay for the use of furniture during periods when I was not using it,
and in accordance with
a rule of which I was not aware.