CO129-259 - Governor Sir Robinson - 1893 [5-8] — Page 471

Enclosure /2

C. O.

15822

RECEIVED

(per 10 SEP 98)

His Honour the Chief Justice to H. E. the Governor of Hong-Kong.

Sir,

Supreme Court,

Hong-Kong 4th August 1895.

Retrenchment Committee.

166

I have read through the correspondence which has passed between yourself and Mr. Whitehead on the subject of the composition of this Committee and I now beg to state my views on the matter.

I have thought all along and I still think that it is desirable that a Judge should not be mixed up with questions of local politics but when I reluctantly consented to join the Committee as originally constituted I did so in the hope that it would not be necessary for me to give expression to any personal views upon matters about which there might be a conflict of opinion. As Chairman of a Committee in which the two sides (official and unofficial) were equally represented, I thought that I might be able to promote unanimity by discussion and compromise and that if it should so happen that in any respects the two parties were irreconcilable I might at any rate if I thought it advisable abstain from recording my own view.

When