i
No 381
C.0.
143TM*
38867
Rece
148
Rene 9 DEC 12
GOVERNMENT HOUSE.
HONGKONG. 9th. November, 1912.
You
sir,
With reference to Sir F. D. Lugard's Despatch
Buck No. 283 of the 11th. August, 1911, I have the honour to inform you
that a letter was received in April last from Mr. J. T. Cotton in which he requested that free passages to England might be granted to his wife and five children, whom he had left behind in Hongkong when he left the Colony.
2.
Mr. Cotton had been granted a free passage as
a special case though he was not entitled to it, and the Executive Council, before whom his application was brought, refused to grant passages to his wife and children. lir. Cotton addressed a letter, of which a copy is enclosed, to the Captain Superintendent of Police, and Mrs. Cotton has recently approached the Government víti a request for an allowance out of her husband's pension. I analone a copy of her latter.
do.
conclosure
3.
The Attorney-General has expressed the opinion
thet brs. Cotton's proper remedy is to apply to the Court for relief, but in view of the imsband's absence from the Colony there do not appear to be any legal proceedings which she could useful- -ly initiate here. There are many precedents I believe for making deductions from the salaries of officers, and from the pensions of retired officers, for the support of their wives and families, and I should be glad to know whether you would be prepared to authorise
E RIGHT HONOURABLE
LEIS HARCOURT. E.P.,
&G***
£