Enclosure 1.
154
COPY.
To His Excellency
The Honourable Mr. Claud Severn C.M.G.
The Officer Administering the Government of Hongkong.
1.
The Humble Petition of the undersigned
Portiguese members of the community
respectfully showeth:-
Your Petitioners at the outbreak of the War in 1914 were all
employed by German Firme in this Colony.
2. As can be seen from the schedule here to annexed many of them had
served for a great number of years with the German Firms employing
them.
3.
Upon the closing down of the German Firms in this Colony a
number of your Petitioners were compelled to seek employment at the
best rate obtainable which almost invariably resulted in an employment
at a very much lower rate than that which they had obtained from the
various German Firms, and in many cases, the fact that they had been
employed by German Firms militated against their obtaining employment
at all.
4.
Some of your Petitioners were actually under Agreement and were
qualifying for a bonus or a pension from the firms they had served
Bo long.
5.
It can be readily proved that it was the custom of German Firms
to give a bonus and a holiday to all Portuguese employees who had
completed 25 years in their service. A number of your Petitioners
were within reasonable distance of either retirement on pension or
of obtaining this bonus but the outbreak of War deprived them of any
fruits of their long service.
6. The Portuguese in this Colony have been faithful and loyal to
the Colony and the British Government, as is evidenced by the large
number of them who joined the Hongkong Police Reserve this being
their