21
CHAPTER V
POINTS OF IMPORTANCE IN REGARD ΤΟ CERTAIN MAJOR DEPARTMENTS AND SERVICES
GOVERNMENT HOUSE
71. We recommend that the Entertainment Allowance drawn by His Excellency the Governor should be increased from £2,200 to £2,500 and that His Excellency the Governor should be exempted from payment of excise duty.
72. The salaries recommended for the Private Secretary and the Aide-de- Camp have not been increased to the same extent as those for other officers, since we recommend that no charge should be made to these officers in respect of their quarters. We have proposed special salaries for the No. 1 and No. 2 Chauffeurs at Government House and suggest that in view of these rates of pay these officers should not be eligible for overtime.
COLONIAL SECRETARIAT
73. We recommend the abolition of the non-pensionable duty allowance of £150 per annum at present paid to the Colonial Secretary in whose basic salary we have incorporated a compensatory increase, and that expenses incurred by him in the entertainment of official visitors should be chargeable to the central official entertainment vote referred to in paragraph 53.
74. We consider that the Head Attendant at the Secretariat should be on the same scale of pay as a grade III foreman. For the Head Messenger we recommend the pay of the semi-skilled grade.
ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICE
75. We recommend that the period of probation for Cadet Officers in future be increased from two years to three, in order that there may be an opportunity of assessing the suitability of a Cadet Officer on probation not only during his first two years after appointment when he is studying Cantonese, but also during the succeeding year when he commences work in the Colony. The salary scale we have proposed contemplates the abolition of the present privilege of free quarters during the period of language study but if it is not possible for suitable accommodation to be obtained in Canton for one sixth of the proposed basic salaries, we suggest that a temporary allowance might be granted. It appears to us that the proportion of time scale to superscale posts for Cadet Officers is unduly low as compared with that in other Colonies such as Malaya and we suggest that the question of increasing the number of Class I appointments might be considered.
MINOR STAFF, ARTISANS AND FOREMEN
76. There has, in the past, been a considerable diversity in the scales of pay for minor staff, artisans and foremen. Some of these scales differ only slightly from others. Some appear to have been created for individual holders of posts and there are wide diversities in the rates paid to men of presumably comparable degrees of skill in various departments. We are of the opinion, as stated in paragraphs 18 and 19 of Chapter II, that in future, as many of the lower grade staff as possible should be employed on daily rates of pay with a guaranteed 30-day month. We realise, however, that it may not be possible to put such a policy into effect immediately and that it may be found preferable to retain certain classes of workers falling within these categories on monthly rates of pay. We have therefore put forward recommendations for scales of monthly pay for minor staff, artisans and foremen, which, in our opinion, will result in the elimination of many unnecessary minor differences in grading and will produce a simpler and more logical wage structure for the lower grades of the service. We have based our recommendations on a slightly modified form of the grading used in Civil Affairs Circular No. 67 of 12th December, 1945, in accordance with which we have provided scales for minor staff, for semi- skilled workers, for two grades of artisans and for foremen and overseers. The minor staff grade will in the main consist of coolies, office messengers, sextons, notice servers, cleaners, seamen, caretakers, pointsmen, porters, gatemen, female attendants, platelayers, trolleymen, rat catchers, rat searchers, latrine attendants, female escorts, female searchers, park keepers, bathhouse attendants, bargemen, meat porters and certain amahs, cooks, servants, gardeners, foresters and stokers. Provision has been made for certain officers within this class whose duties are more exacting or more responsible to enter the scale half way up. The semi-skilled grade will include office attendants, stone polishers, guards and watchmen, the H.K.V.D.C. range warden, telephone boys, lift operators, tapemen, leading seamen, station attendants, head survey