CO129-304 - Governor Sir Blake - 1901 [1-4] — Page 712

Limasanya mela

(

COPT No. 651.

Sir,

ENCLOSURE 3

C.

160:

706

QW GO MAY

Colonial Secretary's Office,

Hongkong, 25th. March, 1901.

I am directed to acknowledge the

receipt of your letter of the 18th. instant, resigning your posi- tion on the Sanitary Board and enclosing a copy of the letter in which you have informed the ratepayers of the reasons which impel- led you to take that course.'

2.

His Excellency the Governor regrets

that you have withdrawn your valuable assistance from the Sanitary Board and would point out that you anderestimate the service which you have rendered to the Community as a Member of that Board, which is not even trammelled by the responsibility advoca- ted by you in the concluding paragraph of your published letter, and the recommendations of which have been freely adopted by the Government both as to the personnel of the Department, the adop- tion of Sanitary Legislation and the execution of public works recommended.

3.

The cost of the Sanitary Staff in 1898 was $105,018. The estimated cost for 1901 is $152,903, while witb- in that time, which corresponds with the period during which Sir Henry Blake has administered the Government of this Colony, a sum of $1,148,811 has been expended in carrying out Sanitary Work, recommended by the Board, and a further sum of $302,450 is ip- cluded in the Estimates for the corrent year.

4.

Legislation of a far-reaching nature has also been adopted at the suggestion of the Board, whose services to the Colony His Excellency appreciates very highly, and whose independence of action is emphasised by the fact that during the past year, when many important resolutions were de- bated there was not a single instance in which all the Official Iembers voted on one side and all the Unofficial Members on the other side.'

Dr. William Hartigan.

I have eto., (sd.) J. H. Stewart-bookhart,

Colonial Secretary.