Salary of surveyor as compared
with that of engineer.
Power of Superinten- dent of
Crown Lanis.
Separate Surrey Dept.
Second branch of inquiry.
118
Survey Office (see document attached to Enclosure 8 (4)). We are of the opinion that such transfers should, as far as possible, be avoided, if not altogether stopped, for it is obviously hard on an office to have now and again one of its officers taken away just as he is fully getting into his work. Moreover his transfer to another office must necessarily involve some waste of time in getting into the routine of his new duties.
63. Mr. Parker Rees stated that the main reason for surveyors seeking such transfers is that the salaries of engineers are higher than those of surveyors of corresponding grades. He expressed the opinion (see pages 30, 31 and 32 of his evidence in Enclosure 8 (4), and statement attached thereto) that a surveyor should receive as much as an engineer, because that would stop the constant and inconvenient transfers complained of. He also sub- mitted a comparative statement (attached to Enclosure 8 (4)) of the salaries of surveyors and engineers respectively in Ceylon and the Federated Malay States. This matter is one for the Government and not for the Com- missioners to deal with.
* 64. We recommend the adoption of Mr. Parker Rees suggestion that the Superintendent of Crown Lands be given the same power as an Assistant Director of Public Works to communicate with the Colonial Secretary direct, as for and on behalf of the Director of Public Works. By so doing much circumlocution will be avoided, and he will be more directly responsible for the work of his own branch being carried on with speed and diligence. We would add that in the Federated Malay States and Ceylon the Survey Department seems to be distinct and separate from the Public Works Department, and we think that the Government should con- sider the advisability of creating a separate Survey Department in the Colony, as tending to fix responsibility and to the speedier dealing with applications for land.
65. We now proceed to consider the second branch of our Inquiry, namely
Sub-heads
of branclı |I of Inquiry.
High cost of land causes high rent.
II.-Measures for Decreasing the Cost of Housing Accommodation.
66. This branch is dealt with under the following 3 sub-heads :-
(1) Cost of land.
(2) Cost of house-building :
(a) Constructional.
(b) Materials.
(3) Measures for decreasing rental.
Sub-Head (1)—Cost of Land.
67. As stated in para. 31, under Branch I of our Inquiry, the cost of Crown land is the most serious factor in connection with the cost of building in the Colony. It is also clear that one cardinal factor for securing the desired reduction in the cost of housing accommodation must be the prevention of building sites being made the subject of speculatiou, by restrictions against alienation; for it is obvious that the higher the price of the site, the greater must be the cost of the completed whole-the land plus the building, and consequently the higher must be the rent which the tenant has to pay.
In paras. 31 to 34 we have made recommendations on this subject.