PERSONAL STAFF IN CONFIDENCE
(c)
The distinction between those Crown Servants working overseas who are entitled to the vote under the Representation of the People Act and members of IMOCS is of course that the former receive their emoluments in the UK, and pay British taxes on them.
(d) Standardisation of leave terms is not really a feasible
proposition. Governors' leave lengths are governed by Colonial Regulation 5, which has logic in tying the amount of leave to that of the senior officers of the territory and thus to local conditions.
(e) I am afraid that an allowance for DS Personal Assistants
carrying out social duties in the absence of an ADC would never be allowed. PAs to Ambassadors undertake similar functions to those which you enumerate as part of their normal duties. The only alternative to the present system would seem to be to employ a part-time Social Secretary to be paid for from local funds: this is in fact done in certain of our larger embassies where the social burden is reckoned to be greater than a PA can be expected to cope with as part of her normal duties.
4. Finally, you mentioned in your letter our annual review of Governor's emoluments. Your duty allowance is examined when you send us your Annual Statement of expenditure each year. Similarly, your tax free salary is compared annually with the net take-home pay of a Diplomatic Service Officer Grade 4. So far we have never had need to question the emoluments you receive from the Cayman Islands but if at any time your salary fell below our calculation of what you should receive we should of course either approach your Government or top-up your salary from HMG funds as we do with Governors in the poorer territories.
5.
I hope that this gives you the information you require. Please let me know if I can be of any further help.
PERSONAL.
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WE Quantrill
Hong Kong and General Department
STAFF IN CONFIDENCE