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Your letter
A
in Bermuda multa, and Gibraltar, and not merely the preference of the General to the Colonial Secretary as acting Governor.
Yearly
6. In other words, while Hong Kong is expanding as a Colony and a commercial settlement, as opposed to its original phase of being a fortress and a naval base, and is now high in the first rank of the Crown Colonies, it practically suggests that a military administration is best suited for it and it is classed with Gibraltar rather than with Singapore, which is also at once an Imperial Coaling Station and a great Colony.
7.
Mr Lyttelton thinks that these considerations may not have been present when your letter was written, and he can only reply that he is not prepared to reverse a decision which was recently taken after fully weighing all the circumstances of the case, and which was duly communicated to the War Office, before the present Commander of the Troops at Hong Kong