In view of this contingency and it being necessary in each case that I should know what pension will be granted me, I have the honour to solicit that Your Lordship would be pleased to take my case with consideration and to fix the amount of my pension, in case I should be obliged to retire next year.
My sight may at first appear to be a high figure for pension, but it is very seldom that Your Lordship is called upon to reward such a long period of service as 41 years, especially in a tropical colony, and this figure is below the pension granted to the late Chief Justice, who received £1000 on his retirement.
My service has been continuous since my appointment on 1st September 1883, and on the 24th June 1892, I completed ten years' service in Hong Kong. Since my last promotion, three years will have elapsed. I therefore submit to Your Lordship that according to the rules regulating Pensions, I am fully qualified for the maximum pension which can be granted, viz. 4/5 of my present salary, that is 4/5 of $8,400 = $6,720.
In the presence of the rules regarding pensions, I do not anticipate that serious objections can be raised to the above figure, but should it be urged or suggested that I have not spent all these years in one Colony, I submit that my case is fully covered and governed by the Secretary of State's despatches of the 15th July and 11th September 1869. The rules laid down in these despatches were...
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