vergent
288
marks with reference to the Petitions:-
Both Petitioners are men who have been
known to me personally for over 20 years and my reports made to you on the 24th. and 27th. August 1897 were made under a due sense
of responsibility and when I stated that in my opinion the Captain Superintendent of Police was fully justified in recommending the
dismissal of these officers, I knew that were such a step taken it
might result in depriving the Government of the services of men of
considerable experience and who in the past had rendered good
service to the Government in the detection of crime. As however
I was fully convinced then and am now, that the Petitioners bad,
from corrupt motives, neglected to report the existence of the
gambling house at No. 2 Wa Lane and that they had thereby "corrupt-
ly betrayed their trust," to use Stanton's words, I felt that no
other course was open to me,
whatever the result to the Petition-
ers might be and, although the loss of their services must be a
matter of some importance to the Government.
The Petitioners now ask that they may be
reinstated in the Police Force and allowed to retire upon pensions
upon the grounds:-
(1) That His Excellency the Governor had
no power to dismiss them under Ordinance 14 of 1887 Section 24,
they