CO129-276 - Governor Sir Robinson - 1897 [6-8] — Page 216

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Enclosure 2.

(826 16 JUG 17

General Officer Commanding to Governor of Hong Kong.

Sir,

Headquarter Office,

Hong Kong 5th. July 1897.

In answer to Your Excellency's request I have the honour

to report upon the Petition of some of the Buropean and American

inhabitants against the acquisition of Mount Austin Hotel by the

War Department.

I venture to say that there is no general feeling in the

Colony aga@nst the sale to the War Department; many of the inhabi-

tants ridicule the idea of the signatories being able to affect a

legitimate sale of a property which has been in the market for the

last two years.

2.

Those principaoly aggrieved are dwellers in the

Hotel, who very naturally regret being turned out of their rooms; and many other signatories take I think an erroneous view of inconve niences that they imagine may result from the quartering of soldiers on the Peak. Soldiers there, far from the influence of slums and drinking shops, will behave as other peaceful citizens.