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|| 7th December last, relative to a proposal to amalgamate the Civil Services of the Straits Settlements and Hongkong.
J have noted the instructions which it contains, and whenever the Widows and Orphans' Pension Fund Ordinance may be amended in the sense suggested in the fifth paragraph of the despatch, the opportunity will be taken to effect some other amendments also that are required in the Ordinance.
In the meanwhile I have the honour to enquire whether Your Lordship's despatch may be gazetted, or otherwise communicated to the Civil Service of Hongkong. I have reason to believe that some of the Civil Servants in this Colony will object to the proposed amalgamation on the grounds that it is calculated to prospectively prejudice their interests and, perhaps, in that it varies the contract of service and employment.