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2. The Salary I am now earning in Hongkong is paid from local taxation, and not derived from British Revennes. The British Exchequer, therefore, seems to me to have no right to confiscate my pension, because I am paid from other sources by a Colony.
3. Even if I derived my salary from British Revenue, I should have a claim for my pension in addition, under para. 990 of the Royal Warrant for Pay and Promotion, which says: "Retired pay may, subject to the provisions of "Article 991, with the consent of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, be "issued to an officer holding a civil situation, subject to limitations correspond- "ing to those in the Appropriation Act 1870, as regards half pay.”
4. The limitation here refered to, is a provision, that the civil salary should
not exceed three times the amount of the retired pay.
5. My Civil Salary here is $3,360 a year, or at the present rate of exchange about £620 a year, hardly more than double retired
my
pay.
6. I am informed that many officers of high position, such as members of the Indian Council, are allowed to draw high civil salaries in addition to Military pay or pension.
I am informed that Sir GEORGE W. KELLNER, with many others, draws both pension and salary from the Government at home.
7. Subordinate officers of my standing, have also been allowed to receive
both home and Colonial salaries, in addition to their retired
pay: I
may instance
Lieutenant-Colonel GARSIA (formerly 54th Regt.) Asst. Governor of Wormwood
Scrubs Prison; the late Colonel SCEBERRAS 98th Regt., Chief of Police at Malta; Major SWINBURNE late 80th Regt., recently employed in the Straits
Settlement Police, and others. I see no difference between their cases and mine.
8. In consequence of the unhealthy climate, and want of educational facili- ties at Hongkong, I have been obliged in coming out here to leave my family at home. If my pension is withheld, I am practically serving here for only £320 a year. The extra cost of the double establishment I have to keep up greatly exceeds this amount. I am, therefore, now serving in Hongkong at a pecuniary loss, and if my pension is refused me, I have no other alternative than at once to resign my appointment here, and request the Colonial Office to send an officer to relieve me as soon as possible.
9. I am reluctant to give up the service of Government, and in the event of the Lords of the Treasury deciding against me, I would humbly request the Right Honourable the Secretary of State (if it is not against rule) to submit my case to Her Most Gracious Majesty the QUEEN in Council. I understand, that as a Military Officer, though retired, I have a right of appeal to Her Majesty, though I am unacquainted with the proper form of doing so; and I entertain a strong and firm conviction that, neither Her Most Gracious Majesty, nor the
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