CO129-348 - Governor Sir Lugard - 1908 [7-10] — Page 342

PY.

Enclosure

C. 0.

33991338

Champ SEP 08/ Supreme Court, Hongkong,

5th. August, 1908.

sir,

I have the honour to acknowledge Your Excel-

-lency's letter of 4th. August on the subject of the Widows and

Orphans Pensions Fund.

2.

There are two questions raised in my

previous letters which I specially desire should be submitted

to the Secretary of State when the Ordinance goes home.

The first is the injustice which according

to the Colonial Secretary's speech is going to be done to the

larger contributors to the Fund for which no explanation or

justification has been offered.

The second is the question of guarantee.

The point is dealt with in the 7th. paragraph of Your Excel-

-lency's letter under reply, as to which I venture to offer the

following observations.

Pensions to Widows and Orphans stand on an

entirely different footing to other liabilities of the Govern-

-ment, because in the case of other liabilities, whether

salaries, pensions or loans, the credit of the Government is

voluntarily accepted. Whereas in the case of the Widows and

Orphans Fund the capital of the Fund has been taken over com-

-pulsorily by the Government. There are two special considera-

-tions which I think it is probable have been overlooked. The

first is, that under the old arrangement it is by no means

certain that in spite of the confusion of the Fund in the

General Revenue of the Colony, the amount would not be consider-

-ed by the Court of Chancery as being impressed by a trust,

and therefore in the event of any catastrophe happening to the

Government