CO129-399 - Governor Sir May - 1913 [1-2] — Page 194

Jong Kong.

Gabernment Boo

ouse.

31 March 1913.

193

!

Dear Mr.Harcourt,

On the occasion of my

going to Fiji you were good enough to give me permission

to write to you privately, and I now avail myself of

the privilege in order to ask your re-consideration

of the terms in which the last paragraph of your secret

despatch of the 28th. February la couched.

I confess that, when I read that paragraph, I

felt as if I had received a blow in the face from an

unseen hand. It is inconceivable that I, in my thirty-

-second year of service during the whole of which I have

never been accused of disrespect to a superior or of

want of courtesy to the public with whom I have had to

deal, should wilfully write an impertinence to the

Secretary of State.

You will, I am sure, understand that in regard

to Mr.Wodehouse's promotion I was placed in a difficult

position. In the Police Department it is usual for the

second-in-command to act in the absence of the Captain-

Superintendand. I could not conscientiously recommend

Air. Wodehouse for the advancement without the reservation

which I made. Acting appointments are made by the

Governor and are rarely questioned by the Secretary of

State. But in the Police Department an acting appointment

by me over the head of a Deputy Superintendant recommende d

by myself might be recognised as so anomalous as to call

for interference.

Hence my reservation.