4.
The question which the Unofficial Members were requested to solve was not placed before them until a comparatively short period before the estimates referred to had to be officially discussed and passed.
We refrain from making any observations on the facts of the case thus brought under your notice, but the matter will be found to be set forth in further detail in the letter from the Hon. T.H. Whitehead to His Excellency the Governor of Hong Kong, dated the 2nd December 1896, which is included in the published correspondence above referred to.
In replying to the communication from His Excellency the Governor, the Unofficial Members of Council were unanimous in considering that he should redeem the pledge given by his predecessor, to the effect that the special Light Dues rate should cease, but the majority of them accepted the suggestion made in His Excellency's letter, that for the future a fixed rate of 2 cents per ton should be imposed as Light Dues on all shipping entering the Harbour.
But it must be pointed out that the Unofficial Members of Council present at the Meeting at which the subject was discussed, who were in favor of this proposal, were absolutely