COPY.
Enclosure No. 2 to Governor's Despatch No.504
of the 12th December, 1901.
Your Excellency,
704
The annexed letter is published in the "Daily Press" of this morning. "Edw.J. Ackroyd" was Registrar of the Court here, and retired as Puisne Judge. He was knighted and now draws a handsome pension of more than £1,200 a year.
I beg to call attention to the last paragraph of the letter. "The official jealousy" can only refer to this Government or to the Colonial Office. So far as this Government is concerned, Sir Edward Ackroyd's supposition is entirely unfounded. The services of Mr. Francis were brought to the notice of the Colonial Office by Sir William Robinson, and Mr. Way, who was associated with Mr. Francis on the Permanent Committee of the Sanitary Board in 1894, when he was on leave at home, also informed the Colonial Office of the good work done by Mr. Francis. I believe Mr. Francis would have been decorated, but he published an injudicious letter after receiving the historical inkpot, saying he expected a C.M.G., and this I believe 'dished' his chances. In any case, I submit that it is highly improper for a Government pensioner, who has been knighted, to publish such a statement, and I think Sir Edward Ackroyd should be called upon for an explanation through the Colonial Office.
(sd.) J.H. Stewart Lockhart,
Colonial Secretary.
10th December, 1901.