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Consul-General in Foreign countries.
6. LANGUAGE QUALIFICATION DURING FIRST TOUR OF RESIDENT SERVICE
(ON FIRST APPOINTMENT)
The person engaged, if appointed on probation to any grade, or on agreement to certain grades, and if under the age of 40 years, will be required after arrival in Hong Kong to attend an eleven week full-time course in spoken Chinese (Cantonese) at the Government Language School, as soon as the exigencies of the service permit. Upon completion of this course he will sit for the First Cantonese Colloquial Certificate, the possession of which is a pre-requisite for renewal of agreement in certain grade or for confirmation to the pensionable establishment. If he is over the age of 40 years on the date of his first arrival in Hong Kong, he will not be required to study the Language but may, with approval, attend voluntary classes at the Government Language School if he so wishes.
7. MEDICAL AND DENTAL ATTENTION IN THE COLONY
8.
(1) Medical attention is provided free of charge for officers and their families whilst in the Colony but hospital maintenance charges are made. Dental treatment (extractions and fillings) is also provided free of charge, but charges are made for dentures and dental appliances. Spectacles are not provided by Government.
(11)
For the purpose of this Section, "family" means the officer's wife, sons under the age of 19 years and unmarried daughters under the age of 21 years.
QUARTERS
(1)
(ii)
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Government quarters (i.e. non-departmental quarters, departmental quarters and private tenancies) are provided (but see (v) below). 'Family' when used in relation to quarters means the officer's wife, sons under the age of 19 years and unmarried daughters under the age of 21 years. Non-depart- mental quarters are allocated by a Quarters Allocation Committee on a points system which takes into account the officer's salary, length of unbroken Colonial or UK Civil Service, size of family if in the Colony, and any period spent in hotels or in temporary quarters. Departmental quarters are allocated by the Head of Department to certain officers who by the nature of their duties are required to live in a particular place, e.g. some doctors, Inspectorate rank (and some Gazetted rank) officers in the Police Force and some officers of the Frisons Department. Any officer may be required to live in a particular area or in a particular quarter.
A private tenancy may be arranged by direct negotiation between the officer and the landlord of the premises; if a private tenancy is approved the Hong Kong Government will reimburse the officer with the cost of rent and rates within certain limits, subject to the rent being considered reasonable. If the rent is considered to be too high, reimbursement will be limited to the rent which the Government considers to be reasonable, even if the actual rent asked is within an officer's limit. The limits vary according to an
officer's salary and whether he is single, married without children in the Colony or married with children in the Colony. The limits are reviewed periodically and an officer may obtain information about the limit applicable to himself from the Quartering Officer, to whom private tenancy proposals
are made.
The Quartering Officer also possesses current lists of flats suitable fr letting as private tenancies. If Government quarters are available a proposal
for a private tenancy may be refused.