THE HONG KONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, MARCH 18, 1932.
COLONIAL SECRETARY'S DEPARTMENT.
No. 174. The following is published for general information.
18th March, 1932.
HONG KONG.
No. 45.
W. T. SOUTHORN,
Colonial Secretary.
DOWNING STREET,
11th February, 1932.
249
Sir,
I have the honour to inform you that, after very careful consideration, I have decided to assimilate the system of recruitment for the Cadet Services of Malaya and Hong Kong to that in force for the Colonial Service generally. An announcement to this effect, of which I enclose a copy,* appeared in the press on January 26th.
2. As a consequence of this decision, which was taken after consultation with the Civil Service Commission and the Colonial Service Appointments Board, and with the concurrence of both bodies, candidates for the Cadet Services in the above mentioned Colonies will in future be selected on the recommendation of the Colonial Service Appointments Board instead of, as hitherto, according to the results of the competitive. examination held by the Civil Service Commission for the Home and Indian Civil Services. The position of Ceylon is special and will be separately considered in con- sultation with the Governor. In the meantime the postponement of a decision in regard to that Island will have no immediate practical effect since the recruitment of Europeans for the Civil Service is at present suspended.
3. I realise that there may be some who will regret this decision as marking a break with a long and honourable tradition. I sympathise with that regret, and I would hasten to assure you that my decision was not based on any failure to appreciate the valuable services which have been rendered in the past, and are being rendered today, by men who have entered the Cadet Services through the competitive examination. Many of them, I am aware, have achieved distinction not only in the Eastern Colonies but in other parts of the Colonial Empire, to whose general development members of the Cadet Services have materially contributed.
4. At the same time it is essential to take account of the great changes which are so rapidly taking place in the Colonial Empire as a whole. It is necessary also to remember that the whole problem of recruitment at home has of recent years been considerably modified, on the one hand by economic forces arising out of the war, and on the other by the development of fresh alternative careers now open to the class of man which the Colonial Service desires to attract. In deciding to discontinue the com- petitive examination, I have been looking not at the past but to the future.
5. At a time when the Colonial Empire consisted of scattered units, separated from each other and from this country by distances which the modern methods of communication had not yet bridged, and when the administration of many of these units was still in the pioneering stage, it was not unnatural that recruitment for the older Administrations of
Governor
SIR WILLIAM PEEL, K.C.M.G., K.B.E.,
etc.,
etc.,
etc.,
* Not printed.