105
of the reasons for, and the effect of the
Government taking over the Fund, objected
to the measure; and it was finally decided
that this course should not be adopted and that the Fund should be continued as it was. It was decided that new officers should not contribute to
the Fund, but that Government should receive
their contributions and pay the pensions of
their widows, thus allowing the old Fund
gradually to die out for want of new members.
4. The proposal that the Government
should take over the Fund was first placed
before the Hongkong Government by the Secretary of State in July 1902 and in February
1903 your predecessor wrote stating that the
Executive Council and the Directors of the
Fund unanimously agreed to the adoption of
that course. Correspondence followed
mainly as to whether the Pension Tables
recently introduced in Ceylon might properly
be adopted in Hong Kong when the Fund was taken