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THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 10TH APRIL, 1897.
3. The selected Candidates will be expected to leave England about a month after the results of the examination are announced.
4. Each Cadet will receive salary at the rate of $1,500 per annum, half salary to commence from the day of leaving England, and full salary from the date of his arrival in the Colony or State to which he may be sent. The cost of his passage to the Colony or State will be paid, subject to the liability of repayment hereafter mentioned (Secs. 7, 8).
5. While studying the native languages he will be under the control and supervision of the Go- vernor of the Colony or Resident in the State to which he may be sent, who will frame regulations for his hours of study and general government. Quarters, books, and teachers will be provided for him at the public expense, and he will be required to attend at the Public Offices a certain time each day as may be directed by the Governor or Resident, in order to give him an opportunity of learning the details of public business, without interfering with his reading. He may also, if thought advis. able, be sent for a certain time to China or to Madras in order to acquire more intimate knowledge of the Chinese or the Tamil language.
6. As soon as he is declared by a Board of Examiners to have acquired a competent knowledge of one or more of the languages, and has passed such an examination as may be prescribed in Law, Colonial Regulations, and Government Orders, he will be temporarily employed in such of the Depart- ments as may require his services, at a salary of $1,800 per annum, and will be considered eligible for appointment, as vacancies may occur, to offices in the Civil Service, the salaries of which range from about $2,400 per annum upwards.
7. The progress of the Cadet will be tested by half-yearly examinations, and he will be liable to be dismissed without further pay if he does not pass a final examination in one or more of the langua- ges within such time as may be fixed, or if at any time his progress or conduct shall be considered by the Government to be so unsatisfactory as to render such a course desirable. The Government will decide, having regard to the ground of dismissal, whether the Cadet shall be sent home at the public expense, or shall be left to find his own way home, or shall be, in addition, called upon to repay the cost of his passage out.
8. A Bond must be entered into by the Cadet and two approved sureties, or an approved Gua- rantee Society, with the Crown Agents for the Colonies, to secure the repayment of the cost of the passage out in the event of his dismissal and of its being decided that such repayment shall be en- forced, and also in the event of the Cadet, within four years from the date of his arrival in the Colony or State to which he may be sent, either quitting the country without leave or relinquishing his appointment (except on account of ill health), together with a further sum of 50%. for each year, to repay the cost of his teaching up to his leaving.
9. Subject to the necessities of the service, leave of absence on half salary may be granted after a period of six years' resident service, without any special grounds. It may be given before the ex- piration of that period in cases of serious indisposition, or of urgent private affairs. In the absence of special grounds, the leave in such case must not exceed one-sixth of the officer's resident service; on special grounds it may exceed that period by six months. In addition to the above, vacation leave on full pay may be granted, if no inconvenience or expense is caused thereby, not exceeding three months in any two years.
10. The present rule as to superannuation is that in the case of ill health an officer may be al- lowed to retire on a pension after ten full years' resident service; otherwise he must have attained the age of 55.
For ten full years' resident service fifteen-sixtieths of the average annual salary of the retiring officer's fixed appointments for the three years prior to retirement may be awarded, to which one-sixtieth may be added for each additional year's service; but no addition will be made in respect of any service beyond 35 years. For pension purposes absence on vacation leave counts as full service, and leave on half pay as half service.
11. A deduction of 4 per cent. is made from the salaries of all those who are selected to serve in the Straits Settlements or Hongkong, as a contribution to one or other of the Widows and Orphans' Pension Funds of the two Colonies; and a similar deduction will be made from the salaries of all who are hereafter selected to serve in the Malay States, as soon as a Widows and Orphans' Pension Fund has been established in those States.
12. The dollar is reckoned at 3s. for the purpose of the payment in England of leave-salary and pension.
COLONIAL OFFICE,
19th February, 1897.
GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.- -No. 123.
His Excellency the Governor has been pleased to direct that the 19th instant, being Easter Monday, be observed as a holiday in the Government Offices.
By Command,
Colonial Secretary's Office, Hongkong, 8th April, 1897.
J. H. STEWART LOCKHART,
Colonial Secretary.