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for providing quarters for subordinate officers had not then
been mooted.
6. We beg respectfully to refer you to the attached correspondence which shows the circumstances under which we
have been deprived of the Allowance in Lieu of Quarters which has been granted to other officers of our standing in the service, and our reasons for submitting that we are entitled to
such allowance.
7. We wish to draw special attention to the fact that
in order to maintain the houses we have built we have to pay Crown Rent, Rates, Lighting expenses, Fire Insurance and Re- pairs, so that, in addition to interest on money we have borrowed
for such houses, and the loss of any income from savings which
we have invested in such houses, we are actually paying consider- able sums to maintain our houses, and by establishing such
houses we are saving the Government the capital cost of con-
structing quarters for us, and the recurrent expense of lighting and maintaining such quarters.
8. Owing to climatic conditions the initial cost and
upkeep of house property in Hongkong is exceedingly heavy.
9. We venture to repeat the submission contained in our
letter to the Hon. Colonial Secretary of the 19th ultimo, and
to add that it appears to us unjust to deprive us of a portion
of the remuneration for services which has been granted to
our brother officers on the admitted ground of the increased-
cost of living which affects us as much as them and that the
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