Colonial Secretary's Office,
C.O.
"Sir,
Hongkong, 21st April, 1909.
19727
vel 14 JUN 09.
In reply to Mr. G. A. Woodcock's letter of the 2nd instant addressed to you in which he requests that as the appointment of Secretary to the Sanitary Board he is at present holding is being abolished, he may be allowed to retire on pension.
2. He further requests that he may be allowed to act as Deputy Registrar till the Spring of 1910 on the grounds that he is incapacitated from filling the post of Second Master at Queen's College by lengthened dissociation with educational work and by reason of continual recurrent headache. In reply I am to point out that the post of Secretary of the Sanitary Board is not being abolished. The salary of it is being merely reduced and Government is providing Mr. Woodcock with another appointment in the Department in which he originally accepted employment under the Colonial Government at the same salary as he enjoyed as Secretary to the Sanitary Board.
3. I am to add that the statement made by Mr. Woodcock that he is out of touch with educational progress and therefore unfitted for the appointment offered does not appear to be compatible with his recent application for the Headmastership of Queen's College which demands not only knowledge of educational work but entails a considerable share of actual teaching.
4. His Excellency greatly regrets to hear of Mr. Woodcock's susceptibility to headaches, and he hopes that steps recently taken to diminish the noises and smells in the vicinity...