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allowance, bearing in mind that the total emoluments of officers in the public service should be sufficient to keep them on a reasonable standard of living appropriate to their status. With this consideration in view we have, if anything, erred on the conservative side in making our general recommendations for revised basic salaries in the knowledge that it is always easier to adjust upwards than downwards. The effect of the price of rice on the economy of South East Asia is of such fundamental importance and so far reaching that a policy of caution appears to us to be essential, since it is obvious that great damage could be done to the economic position of the Colony if the maximum rates which we prescribed proved either to be too high to enable Hong Kong concerns employing staff of similar grades to Government to compete in world markets, or to have a general inflationary effect in the Colony. We are indebted to Professor R. Robertson, Professor of Economics in the Hong Kong University and to Mr. W. M. Thomson, Director of Supplies, Trade and Industry, for the information and advice which they gave us on probable price trends and on the general post-war economic position and to the Labour Officer for his views on post-war wage rates and wage tendencies. Our conclusions on this subject are that it is unlikely that the minimum wage for unskilled labour will within the next five or ten years ever fall below $1.50 per day and that in the middle ranges of salaries an increase of 30% is justified. The increase should in our opinion be in the neighbourhood of 200% in the lowest salary range and should gradually fall to 30% on salaries of about $1,000 per month; it should then taper to 20% on salaries of about $1,500 per month. For salaries over $1,500 per month we have proposed a flat rate of increase of approximately $300 per month. To apply these increases evenly to the whole service we constructed a graph which was used as a guide to determine the minima and maxima of many of the rates of pay which we recommend. In putting forward these proposals, we wish to emphasise that, in our opinion, these increases in basic salaries are of a conservative nature and will not result in inflation, since they will in the majority of cases be below the total emoluments at present being received by Government officers and since in our opinion it will be necessary for some time to pay in addition to these revised salaries a temporary high cost of living allowance which will gradually disappear as conditions become more stable.
BASIS OF RECOMMENDATIONS IN THE CASE OF OFFICERS IN THE UNIFIED COLONIAL SERVICES
22. In the case of salaries for members of the Unified Colonial Services, we have calculated our proposed rates of increase upon the so called African scales introduced between 1937 and 1939 and have ignored obsolescent scales. The result is that although in the majority of cases officers on pre-African scales will benefit slightly, the rate of increase for such officers is considerably less than for officers appointed after 1st April, 1937. Where the proposed new scales do not give any immediate financial benefit in nett emoluments (exclusive of high cost of living allowance), we recommend that such officers should be allowed to choose within a limited time whether to remain on their present conditions of service or whether to come cn to the new scales. This question is dealt with in greater detail in Chapter XI.
REGRADING
23. In certain cases we have recommended scales which will result in an increase considerably in excess of the percentages mentioned in paragraph 21 above. We are of the opinion that several classes of Government servants were considerably underpaid before the war and we have endeavoured to rectify such anomalies. We have, however, endeavoured to avoid being influenced in our recommendations by the temporary scarcity value of certain categories of officers. If it is impossible in the near future to obtain suitably qualified candidates at the rates we propose, we recommend that Government should adopt a policy of temporary appointments on short term contracts at higher stages in the salary scales and that candidates should, on the expiry of their contracts, be offered, if satisfactory, permanent and pensionable employment on the scales we have suggested.
GRADING OF DEPUTY AND ASSISTANT HEADS OF DEPARTMENTS
24. The Commission has experienced some difficulty in the right assessment of the salaries of Deputy and Assistant Directors in relation with those of Directors on the one hand and of senior and specialist officers in the professional departments on the other hand. The functions of a Deputy Director in a large or complex department are easily to be understood, but in recognising the fact that the final responsibility lies on the shoulders of the Directors we are not entirely satisfied that we have followed a right course in