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coolies, addressograph operators, sound projector operators, laboratory attend- ants, packers, store attendants, keymen, boy dressers, grooms, ambulance attendants, dispensary boys, motor mower drivers, pressmen, bathhouse engineers, steersmen, skilled labourers, tallymen, assistant junk coxswains, and certain boatmen, painters, stokers, amahs, ward-boys, house-boys, boys, cooks, gardeners and sextons. Artisans are divided into two grades. Grade II will consist of workmen not fully qualified for Grade I and those employed in trades where a lesser degree of skill or a shorter period of apprenticeship is required than for Grade I. Grade II will include light attendants, head guards, head watchmen, signalmen, painters, sailmakers, drain testers, coxswain- firemen, carriage cleaners, tracers, assistant headmen, mortuary attendants, assistant armourer attendants, leading gardeners, and certain foremen in the Forestry and Gardens Departments, artisans and junk coxswains in the Sanitary Department and certain boatswains, launch engineers, coxswains and house-boys. Among Grade I artisans we have grouped motor drivers, light- house mechanics, carpenters, electricians, riggers, shunters, electric welders, moulders, headmen, fitters, dental mechanics, disinfecting station engineers, the armourer attendant, motor mechanics and certain boatswains, launch coxswains and engineers.
77. The scale recommended for grade II artisans overlaps that for grade I in order to provide a reasonable number of annual increments for grade II artisans. In certain cases where we have considered it desirable to have a through scale we have arranged for promotion bars at various points in these scales. In the Post Office, for example, we recommend that third class postmen should start at the beginning of the semi-skilled grade at $768 and continue to $912 per annum; second class postmen rise from $936 per annum to $1,152 per annum and first class postmen start at $1,200 and continue to $1,344 per annum. In other cases it has also been found necessary to depart slightly from the minima and maxima of the general scales for minor staff and artisans.
78. We have experienced considerable difficulty in assessing salaries for foremen owing to the inconsistent use of titles by different departments. We consider that particular attention should be paid in future to the nomenclature of posts and grades which are common to a number of departments and that a common standard should be adopted where practicable. A senior foreman in a small department may have less responsibility and less men under him than a junior foreman in a larger department. We recommend that there should be three grades of foremen throughout the service and suggest as an appro- ximate common standard that a grade III foreman should be one in charge of not less than twenty men, a grade II foreman one in charge of fifty men, and a grade I foremen of one hundred. This grading might be varied where a foreman is expected to exercise supervision over a large district or over a large number of small gangs of men, or where a high degree of technical skill is required in addition to supervision. In addition we have provided for a higher supervisory grade of overseers.
79. We have suggested in the notes to Appendix IV that foremen should be regraded and given new titles according to the standard described above. We have also applied the scales for foremen to certain other officers who, although they do little or no supervisory work, appear to us to have greater responsibilities than those of a grade I artisan.
STOREKEEPERS AND STOREMEN
80. We have found considerable variation in the pay and the titles of storekeepers, stewards and storemen. We consider that there should be a single cadre of storekeepers and stores staff under the general supervision and control of the Controller of Stores. In our opinion, these officers should receive their initial training in the Stores Department and should be posted to other departments as necessary. We recommend that entry should be by competitive examination open to candidates who have obtained the Hong Kong School Leaving Certificate. We have divided storekeepers into three grades according to their degree of responsibility and have suggested new titles corresponding to this grading in the notes to Appendix IV.
GENERAL CLERICAL SERVICE
81. We have received representations from members of the Junior Clerical Service in regard to the multiplicity of classes and the slowness of promotion and from members of the Senior Clerical Service in regard to the small number of higher posts to which they can aspire. After considering these representations and obtaining evidence on the present organisation of clerical work within the public service and bearing in mind the policy contained in the Colonial Office White Paper we recommend the discontinuance of the