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That the presentation by personal friends within the Colonial regulations, which I entirely concur in the spirit of, I might have requested Lady MacLehose to decline. I could not have even telegraphed to the Secretary of State for authority as I did not know the objections until I entered the room.
But to decline them seemed common and would have had unpleasant implications. And have given pain to the few gentlemen who offered what seemed to be a public subscription for Lady MacLehose, there was the fact that with the friends who waited to make a deputation upon Lady MacLehose, the Chinese Community came up to ask my permission to establish two scholarships, one in the Green College,