Enclosure 6.
Captain Sterling, A.D.C. to Hon: T.H. Whitehead.
Government House,
Hong-Kong 29th July 1893.
415
Dear Sir,
I am directed by the Governor in reply to your letter of this date to say that he regrets he cannot accept your suggestion as to the appointment of a lay member to the Retrenchment Committee. The Chief Justice has already informed His Excellency that he must decline to accept a position by which he would be bereft of all influence, and the only alternative seems to be the appointment of four members as suggested in my note of the 28th.
If you do not feel that you can serve on such a Committee the Governor is afraid that he can take no further action in the matter having already done everything he could to get together a Committee on the lines suggested by the Secretary of State and failed.
I remain &c.,
(Signed) J.T. Sterling.
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