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and to their Petition to you, they received in reply, a letter from the Colonial Secretary of Hong-Kong dated 17th December 1895 in which they were informed that "the Secretary of State was unable to comply with the memorial of the Portuguese members of the Civil Service praying for the grant of Exchange compensation allowance. It will thus be seen that no reason had been assigned for the refusal in granting your petitioners' prayers in the first instance.
4. Your petitioners therefore now pray for a re-consideration of your decision as communicated to them by the Honourable, the Colonial Secretary, aforesaid upon the arguments adduced in their petition of 23rd September 1895, and upon the further facts which they now have the honour to bring forward in addition to, and in substantiation of, those that formed the grounds of their first petition.
4a. In September, 1895, the dollar was worth 2/4 and to-day its reduced value is 1/11¾ or 38.85 per cent.
5. While admitting that the raison d'être for granting the "exchange compensation" to the members of Her Majesty's Colonial Civil Service has been the indemnification of the loss sustained by them in the shrinkage of the gold value of the dollar as represented in their earnings, your petitioners urge for consideration, that though not domiciled, in the literal interpretation of the word, in a gold-using country, their customs and manner, consistent with the offices they have the honour and privileges of holding in Her Majesty's service, involve the expenditure of a large proportion of their salaries in imported articles from the United Kingdom, which, in itself, practically constitutes the disbursement of their earnings for the necessaries of life.