7.32943
+
229
conveying coolies to and from South Africa, which has hitherto
This
formed the subject of a separate file of correspondence.
allowance, (to the sum of $1650), is still owing to me, the debt
having been repudiated by the Government of United South Africa,
without explanation. The opportunity for such repudiation was
afforded by the Hongkong Government, who, while paying a similar
allowance to the Registrar General, subsequently collecting
the same from the Transvaal Government, in my case temporised,
and not only declined to pay me, but omitted to forward my repeated
applications for the stipulated allowance until after the
expiration of more than two years from the date of cessation, for
22 months of which period I was required to continue the duties
for the performance of which the allowance was promised.
8. I find myself, therefore, doubly mulcted; first
of the promised remuneration for work actually performed, over
and above the duties of my substantive post, and secondly of a
substantial proportion of my meagre half salary as a fine for a
crime which I was rendered powerless to prevent, committed by a
Chinese shroff who was shielded and encouraged in his disobedience
of my orders by the senior Chinese clerk and accountant
to whom alone I had to look for control of the Chinese staff and
for reports of irregularities by them. I am, therefore, now out
of pocket to the extent of £171. 10s, and am to be called upon
for a further sum of £48. 10s, as a result of the differential and
preferential treatment accorded to officers of the Cadet class,
of which the Registrar General is a member; for the present
case exhibits many parallels with the previous similar one, when
Mr Orme, a Cadet officer, was held responsible for certain defalcations
in the District Land Office, but was not called upon to
make good the missing money.
9. But it is not so much the money (although that is
a sufficiently serious matter to a man on a small salary, with
a family to support and educate) but the reflection upon my
honour
7.32943
+
229
conveying coolies to and from South Africa, which has hitherto
This
formed the subject of a separate file of correspondence.
allowance, (to the sum of $1650), is still owing to me, the debt
having been repudiated by the Government of United South Africa,
without explanation. The opportunity for such repudiation was -
afforded by the Hongkong Government, who, while paying a similar
allowance to the Registrar General, subsequently collecting
the same from the Transvaal Government, in my case temporised,
and not only declined to pay me, but omitted to forward my repea-
-ted applications for the stipulated allowance until after the
expiration of more than two years from the date of cessation, for
22 months of which period I was required to continue the duties
for the performance of which the allowance was promised.
8. I find myself, therefore, doubly mulcted; first
of the promised remuneration for work actually performed, over
and above the duties of my substantive post, and secondly of a
substantial proportion of my meagre half salary as a fine for a
crime which I was rendered powerless to prevent, committed by a
Chinese shroff who was shielded and encouraged in his disobe-
-dience of my orders by the senior Chinese clerk and accountant
to whom alone I had to look for control of the Chinese staff and
for reports of irregularitiesby them. I am, therefore, now out
of pocket to the extent of £171. 10s, and am to be called upon
for a further sum of £48. 10s, as a result of the differential and
preferential treatment accorded to officers of the Cadet class,
of which the Registrar General is a member; for the present
case exhibits many parallels with the previous similar one, when
Mr Orme, a Cadet officer, was held responsible for certain defal-
-cations in the District Land Office, but was not called upon to
make good the missing money.
9. But it is not so much the money (although that is
a sufficiently serious matter to a man on a small salary, with
a family to support and educate) but the reflection upon my
honour
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