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i respect of the pensions of overseas officers, the British Govement has invariably taken steps to safeguard overseas pensions. This safeguard was usually provided by the conclusion of a Public Officers Agreement (POA). which was one of the constitutional instruments signed as effective at the time of independence; though in some territories it anticipated final independence, while in others (such as Aden) where for some reason a PCA could not be signed, the British Government gave overseas officers an under- taking to the same effect. As far as overseas pensioners are concerned a POA had several fundamentamental effects: principally that pensions would continue to be paid, they would be paid at a fixed sterling rate of exchange (usually the rate prevailing at the effective date of the POA) and that they would be paid or could be remitted to anywhere outside the territory. While Section IV to Annex I of the Sino-British Joint Declaration of the Future of Hong Kong covered some of the matters usually included in a POA, including the continuing payment of pensions, it did not provide for overseas pensions being paid at a fixed sterling rate of exchange.
4. Under the Overseas Pensions Act, 1973, the British Government assumed power to take over and pay out of British funds the basic pensions of overseas pensioners. Since 1973 protracted negotiations have been pursued, territory by territory, with all the former Colonial territories to obtain their agreement to this take-over, and to obtain all the requisite details of pensions in issue, including those payable to the widows and orphans of overseas officers. The take-over procedure could be simplified for Colonies which became independent (or had an executive Public Service Commission) after 1973, as pensions could then be taken over as part of the arrangements for that event. Where these pensions were already payable under the terms of a POA with its fixed sterling rate of exchange they were taken over at that sterling value, or a rate of exchange was fixed as part of the take-over arrangements. All overseas pensioners covered by these arrangements are thus receiving their basic pensions at a fixed amount in sterling. Despite the financial benefit of relieving former Colonies of the cost of paying overseas pensions, there has been great delay and difficulty in effecting the take-overs, and it is only now, 14 years later, that the task is virtually completed (Somalia and
/ Aden