RIGHT HONOURABLE
JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN, M.P.,
Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies.
$6.,
c.,
ge.
19227
522
هاست
The humble Petition of the Undersigned
respectfully sheweth:
1. That your Petitioners are all of Portuguese parentage and have been, severally, in the employ of the flovernment of Hongkong for periods varying from three to thirty years.
2. That during the period of their service under Her Majesty's Governinent they have discharged the duties of their respective offices with care and zeal, to the best of their abilities, and with fidelity to the Service.
3. That by reason of the depreciation in the gold value of the dollar certain members of the Hongkong Government Service were offered, in accordance with the Indian precedent, a compensation by which they were relieved of the hardship caused by the fall in Exchange, the offer being originally made in Marquess of Roy's despatch No. 152 of 25th September, 1893.
4. That the offer, after certain modifications at a subsequent date, was re-submitted to, and accepted by, the Officers concerned, and the "compensation "for Exchange sanctioned on the same basis as that for the Straits Settlements as "from the 1st January, 1894, subject to yearly reconsideration."
5. That your Petitioners were not granted and do not enjoy the benefit of a like compensation,
6. That they also suffer most acutely from the fall of Exchange. The dollar which was worth ten years ago 3/6 is now worth only 28, 24d.
7. That their habits, customs and mode of life which are in all respects similar to those of the English members of the Service make it compulsory that they obtain all necessaries and commodities of European and/or American manufacture, such commodities having increased in price in proportion to the depreciation of silver. The cost of clothing materials, boots, groceries, and in particular druggists' sundries, and articles of daily want, generally, which your Petitioners must be provided with has also risen considerably: articles necessary to the comfort, and to some of your Petitioners even for their health, are now difficult to procure on account of their higher cost.
8. The enjoyment of leave outside the limits of the Cobuy or its immediate neighbourhood has been rendered quite impossible to your Petitioners in conse- quence of the owners of steamship companies trading between Hongkong and/or Europe and America. India and Japan having in most cases applied a gold standard to their tariff of
Passage rates.
9. That while the cost of living in Hongkong has been materially enhanced within recent years the cost of the rent of houses, of the style occupied by your Petitioners, has also increased to some extent.
10. Your Petitiouers Jumbly represent that at a comparatively small expense to the Government their position may be improved and the hardships they now suffer will be removed.
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