Mr. Laird
HONG KONG JUDICIARY:
PENSIONS
Reference HKK 14/14
$1
The draft letter seems all right to me so far as it goes.
I wonder
however whether consideration might perhaps be given to a special arrangement on the following lines for a judge appointed from the
local Bar to the Supreme Court of Hong Kong:-
2.
The Judge, on appointment, to be given the option of
or
(a) earning a normal (non contributory) pension under the Pension's Ordinance during his service as a judge but without
the necessity of doing ten years' qualifying service;
(b) earning a special pension at a higher rate on a
contributory basis, again without the necessity for ten years'
qualifying service, the judge's contribution towards the cost
of the pension to be effected by means of an appropriate
deduction from each monthly instalment of his salary while he
is serving as a judge with an appropriate matching contribution
from Hong Kong funds; or
(c) earning no pension but a special gratuity on retirement.
the
It seems to me that/ordinary permanent and pensionable members
of the Hong Kong service could not reasonably object to the grant of
a special pension at an enhanced rate if part of the cost of the
pension were borne by the judge himself from his salary.
3. Hong Kong judges receive generous salaries so the judge concerned. ought to be able to afford to pay a fairly substantial contribution to the enhanced pension without hardship, particularly if under the income tax laws of Hong Kong he could obtain tax relief on his
contributions.
4.
The special contributory pension could be provided either from Hong Kong funds or purchased from a suitable business firm specilizing
in life assurance, annuities and the like. The latter might be
particularly apt where the judge had already made arrangements with a firm for a contributory pension while practising at the Bar. If
a firm provided the pension the Hong Kong Government's matching
contributions would have to be paid to that firm while if the provision were payable from public funds they would only be a
matter of book-keeping.
5. It would presumably be possible to work into the arrangements for a special pension an option of commuting all or part of the earned pension for a lump sum on retirement.
16.
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