Government House, Hongkong,
3rd February, 1909.
Sir,
I have the honour to acknowledge receipt of your letter of 16th ultimo, in which you acknowledged mine of December 18th, 1908, covering a copy of my Despatch of June 5th to the Secretary of State, and informing me of Lord Crewe's reply. You request that the matter may be re-considered by the Secretary of State, by the light of your letter under reply, and if considered advisable, should be referred by him to the Judges of other Crown Colonies. I shall, of course, in these circumstances forward your letter to the Secretary of State, but I do so with regret, in view of the voluminous correspondence which has already been submitted on this question, as well as on various other questions which have formed the subject of discussion with Your Honour.
2. With regard to paragraph 4 of your letter, it cannot be said that my Despatch was based on Mr. Seth's views. He only furnished the statement of his duties contained in paragraph 5 of the Despatch. The whole correspondence, including the Memoranda prepared by Your Honour, formed enclosures to the Despatch, so that the Secretary of State, in forming his conclusions, was in possession of the fullest information it was possible to submit to him. I regret that Your Honour still finds cause of complaint. I was under the impression that Your Honour had exhaustively dealt with the matter from every point of view, and that you would have considered it immaterial what views Mr. Seth held, in face of Your Honour's full exposition of your own opinions. It is, I think, hardly reasonable...
The Chief Justice.
Page 5
Regd. 15 APR 1909
IV.
C. O.
283
12799
1727/1908.