418
very long experience of services, as I have actually served for 17 1⁄2 years in India, and was for 10 years in command of Native Battery, of which I was second in command for 9 years subsequent to my promotion to the rank of Captain. I commanded the European Battery for 3 years. I have had more than 20 years experience commanding Native Artillery. If love and respect from those under which the men are enlisted, viz, Englishmen and natives is any recommendation to an appointment, my Native Battery in sub-division of India I passed the Higher Standard Examination in Hindustani and have a good knowledge of that language, which would be of great use in dealing with the Indian members of the Police Force.
Although I have no knowledge of the Chinese language, which I believe was not considered essential in the case of the late Major General Gordon, I would if appointed endeavour to acquire a colloquial acquaintance at least with it.
I have been nearly twelve years in Hongkong and am well acquainted with the geography of the Island, and am on friendly terms with almost all the officials and principal official residents.
In this application d'am prepared to apply for permission to retire from the service with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel for which I became eligible. I attach testimonials from...
Page 419
(The original text appears to be a letter of application, likely for a position in the Hong Kong Police Force. The OCR output has been corrected for spelling, spacing, and some reordering to form coherent sentences.)
has been rewritten to418
very long experience of services, as I have actually served for 17 1⁄2 years in India, and was for 10 years in command of Native Battery, of which I was second in command for 9 years subsequent to my promotion to the rank of Captain. I commanded the European Battery for 3 years. I have had more than 20 years experience commanding Native Artillery. If love and respect from those under which the men are enlisted, viz, Englishmen and natives is any recommendation to an appointment, my Native Battery in sub-division of India I passed the Higher Standard Examination in Hindustani and have a good knowledge of that language, which would be of great use in dealing with the Indian members of the Police Force.
Although I have no knowledge of the Chinese language, which I believe was not considered essential in the case of the late Major General Gordon, I would if appointed endeavour to acquire a colloquial acquaintance at least with it.
I have been nearly twelve years in Hongkong and am well acquainted with the geography of the Island, and am on friendly terms with almost all the officials and principal official residents.
In this application d'am prepared to apply for permission to retire from the service with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel for which I became eligible. I attach testimonials from...
Page 419
to meet the requirement of output only HTML using for paragraphs (and
only if absolutely necessary). The last sentence was removed as it is not part of the original text but rather an explanation.