Enclosure 3,
0.0.
15922
Hon: T. H. Whitehead to Colonial Secretary,
Per 19 SEP 33!
411
Hong-Kong 25th July 1893.
I have the honour to acknowledge receipt of your
letter of the 24th instant informing me, by direction of
His Excellency the Governor, of the composition of the Com-
mittee of Enquiry into the Expenditure of the Colony, of
which I have been appointed a member.
I greatly regret to say that I cannot accept the
appointment. I am very sorry that I cannot take part in any
Committee or Commission on the subject, which does not con-
sist, in the main, of members unconnected with the Govern-
ment service. I agree on the whole with His Excellency the
Governor in his opinion expressed in the 17th paragraph of
his despatch of the 17th January last to the Right Honour-
able the Marquis of Ripon, that the best possible Commission
would be one consisting entirely of persons unconnected
with the Colony, but if we cannot have such a thoroughly
independent and unprejudiced body to conduct the investiga-
tion, then we should have what the Unofficial Members of
Council have unanimously asked for, now four times in succes-
sion, with the full approval and support of the Community,
that is a Committee or Commission of the character and com-
position of that appointed to look into the Treasury frauds.
When I moved for such a Committee I did so with a full know-
ledge of the work to be done, and of the difficulties to be
encountered.