CO129-381 - Governor Sir Lugard - 1911 [11-12] — Page 535

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unanimously agreed that he should be required to retire.

3.

I was myself anxious to save Sir Francis

Figott from any unnecessary humiliation, and I gathered

from the tenour of your despatch of September 29th. (end

especially from the last paragraph) that you shared this

feeling, and that you had purposely assigned the matter

of the Appeal Court as a sufficient reason in itself and

one which would enable him to retire with dignity. I felt

sure that he must be aware that his financial embarrass-

ments, which have become little short of a scandal, must

have reached my ears, and that he would recognize the

Lood-will which had prompted the Council to assign this

reason. Accordingly the decision of the Governor-in-Council

was communicated to him in the following terms:-

"I have the honour to inform you that the

Secretary of State has decided that an Appeal Court shall

be established in Hongkong without delay and that it shall

be constituted by the addition of one of the judges of

E.L's Consular Court at Shanghai, As the arrangement

cannot come into force until after your retirement owing

to a number of considerations, including the fact that

the consent of the Foreign Office to the constitution of

the new Court is conditional on your prior retirement, I

am directed by r Harcourt to inform you that it will be

necessary for you to retire when you reach the age of 60.

In accordance with the provisions of Ordinance 1 of

1910 I have therefore to inform you that the Governor-in-

Council requires your retirement on or before April 30th,

next. You will be granted three months leave of absence

prior to retirement if you wish to take advantage of this

concession

4.

On receipt of this intimation he wrote

a very long letter followed by a second even longer,

-

which