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and above Mr. Danby's original estimate) I must explain that immediately after I undertook the work Mr. Ormsby mentioned to me his scheme for the purchase of Beaconsfield by the Government. As it appeared to me a feasible scheme, and as I felt sure that, in the event of the Government deciding to make the purchase, I should be called upon to make a report on the condition of the building, I resolved to do the work in a more thorough and substantial manner than if the building had been for temporary occupation only. I felt that, had I neglected to do so after being made aware of the proposal, I should have laid myself open to blame by you, by not being in a position to report that the building had been thoroughly overhauled and to a great extent renewed and put in good repair, and so, perhaps, creating difficulties in any negotiations which might arise.
From this letter it appeared probable that, however praiseworthy were Mr. Chatham's intentions, he had not acted strictly as Mr. Belilios's agent. He had made alterations and renovations in the building which Mr. Belilios knew nothing about and which he had not authorised. But as he was not conducting the work on his own account, he must have been the agent of somebody. If that somebody was not Mr. Belilios, it can hardly have been other than the Public Works Department, that is to say, the Hong-Kong Government. On these grounds, therefore, the Acting Attorney General recommended that while immediate