(COPY)
A 12 FEB 96.
The Local Auditor Hong Kong to the Comptroller and Auditor General
No 1/1/96.
Sir,
Audit Office,
Hong Kong,
6th January, 1896.
I have the honour to ask that you will be pleased to grant me four months' vacation leave and eight months' leave of absence from about the 4th April of the present year.
2. In accordance with Rule 17 of the Colonial Audit Instructions, I have consulted His Excellency the Governor and he has told me he thinks there is no objection to my being granted the leave I ask for.
3. As far as I can see at present, I shall be able to leave here about the 4th April by the Peninsular and Oriental Steamship "Formosa", and, as by that time Mr Knox will have been well on for a year in the Colony, he should be able to carry on the ordinary work of the Office, more especially as I propose to spend my leave in England and shall probably be in a position to answer any questions as regards the Colonial Accounts without previous reference to him.
4. I observe that by Rule 59 of the Colonial Audit Regulations, only paragraphs 104 and 105 of the Colonial Office Regulations are applicable to Local Auditors.