13
and landlords adjusts itself in such a way that
landlords will be deterred from abusing the
facilities now granted to them.
No. 7.
It is unfortunate that this should
have happened. It seems that the first we
heard of the secrecy in which this affair was
being shrouded in Hong Kong was Mr. Smith's
(5)
letter to Mr. Gent of the 25th October. This
would take anything up to ten days to arrive,
and by the time it had arrived the circular
despatch must already have been in preparation
(the circular referred to in (7) is prepared
and sent out at the beginning of each month).
I think Hong Kong ought to have let us know that
they wanted the matter to be regarded as a secret
when they first notified us of the vacancy and
submitted Mr. Purves' name for promotion to it.
? Reply s.o. to Mr. Smith, saying that
we very much regret what has happened and that
the Hong Kong Government should have been
placed in a somewhat embarrassing position by
Pruunature
the publication of an appointment which was
intended to be the final stage of a complicated
series culminating about a year hence.
Add,
however, that it would not be altogether fair
for us to assume entire responsibility for it,
since the only notification we had of the
secrecy involved was Mr. Smith's letter of the
25th October, the arrival of which was
coincident with the despatch of the circular,
and say that it would have been quite easy to
defer the publication to suit Hong Kong's
wishes