16
HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT
The death of the Chief Justice of Hong Kong, Sir Gerard Howe, occurred in May, while he was on leave in Europe, and in October Mr. M. J. P. Hogan, Attorney-General in the Federation of Malaya, was appointed his successor. The new Chief Justice arrived in the Colony in December, until which time the Senior Puisne Judge, Mr. Justice T. J. Gould, was acting Chief Justice. The year also saw the departure from Hong Kong, after thirty years of Government service, of Mr. R. R. Todd, Secretary for Chinese Affairs.
In October 1954, the Secretary of State had approved in principle the outline of a modified scheme of salary revision for government servants, based to a large extent on the recommendations of the Salaries Commission which had reported earlier in the year. His approval of the detailed proposals for junior grades was received before Christmas 1954, and for the remainder of the scheme about a month later. A Revised Scheme for Salaries and Allowances was published early in March 1955, and the task of adjusting some 25,000 salaries was almost completed by the end of that month. The scheme affected only monthly-paid staff, and did not give any substantial increase in total emoluments, except where posts were considered to have been underpaid in the past; but a higher proportion of cost-of-living allowance than had been recommended by the Salaries Commission was consolidated into basic salaries. No changes were introduced in the remuneration of daily-paid staff but, since 1 April 1955, daily-paid workers who have completed a qualifying period of service are being transferred to the more favourable monthly rates. One issue which remained undecided was that of parity between the professions themselves and between the professions and the administrative service. Mr. W. D. Godsall was appointed toward the end of the year to conduct a review of professional, administrative and superscale salaries. It is expected that his recommendations will be received early in 1956.
ASSISTANCE FROM H.M. GOVERNMENT
A loan of $48,000,000, amounting to about half the total cost, is being made by Her Majesty's Government for the development of Kai Tak Airport.
Under Colonial Development and Welfare, the most important development during the year was the approval