TROUBLE IN HONGKONG
582
Garrison in providing themselves with house accommodation at an expense so inadequately reimbursed to them by the lodging allowance drawn when not provided with public quarters--- that he deeply regrets the decision now arrived at.
In hopes, however, that the Secretary of State for the Colonies may be pleased to take into consideration the facts that officers of the Army have to serve in the trying climate of Hongkong, many thousand miles from Home, not from choice but in the interests of the Colony, that the cost of living, and particularly of house rent, is increasing daily, and that the rate of lodging allowance granted is quite inadequate, His Excellency the General Officer Commanding will esteem it a favour if His Excellency the Governor will kindly lay the matter before him and will recommend that the remission that has now been granted for many years be continued in the future.
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your obedient servant,
(sd). A.W.Collard.
Colonel,
A.A.G.