312.
Hongkong.
My Lord,
0.0.
1600
146
RECP
Rest 15 JAN 08
Government House,
Hongkong,
17th December, 1907.
I have the honour to request your instructions in the following circumstances.
On August 13th, a fire occurred at Taipo and a Matshed in which Mr. Hallifax, District Magistrate, lived with his wife was burnt to the ground, together with an adjoining wooden hut built at his own expense by Mr. Last, Land Bailiff. The shed $1,600 furniture $870 approximate loss of Government property amounted to $2,470 though the absence of any proper Inventories and the transfer of furniture between houses which had occurred renders it difficult to accurately estimate the amount and value of the Government's loss. On this matter I have issued instructions (Financial Instruction No.173) which will, I trust, prevent such confusion in future. Mr. Hallifax' losses amounted to over £450 and Mr. Last to $109.50.
2. The fire appears to have originated in the kitchen, where there were two stoves through the carelessness
RIGHT HONOURABLE
THE EARL OF ELGIN, K.G.,
&c.
&c.
Zcc.