!
;
COPY.
sir,
ENCLOSURE
URE 5.
RECR
0.0.
1349
231
&
Reet 17 JAN 19
Hong-Kong, 7th.December, 1898.
I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt
of your letter of the 5th.inst.and to express my deep regret
that on the 2nd, instant I was absent from duty without leave
and unable to perform my duties by reason of alcoholism,
2. Since my return on the 15th.of August I have
suffered in health considerably, so much so that when the Prin-
cipal Civil Medical Officer returned to the Colony I approach-
ed him with a view to obtaining a Medical Board on the grounds
of ill health.
3. It is a source of deep grier to me that at
times I am subject to severe fits of depression. In connection
with my work I am inordinately excited over trifling matters
and the worry and anxiety of my office have induced a severe
nervous strain which has enforced me to have recourse to sti-
mulants so as to be able to carry on my work.
4. I may add that I have only deferred giving
effect to the wish expressed to the head of my Department from
the fact that some time was necessary for making arrangements
The Hon. T.Sercombe Smith,
for
Acting Colonial Secretary.