31
annum. A promotion bar will operate between $6,300 per annum and $6,600 per annum at which point grade I assistant land surveyors should commence. We recommend that assistant land surveyors who are able to obtain the necessary qualifications and prove themselves to be suitable should be considered for promotion to the grade of land surveyor as vacancies occur.
121. For draughtsmen we recommend a scale similar to that for grades III, II and I and the special grade of the Clerical Service, but with promotion bars between $3,300 per annum and $3,600 per annum and between $6,000 per annum and $6,360 per annum. We are of the opinion that draughtsmen employed by other departments should be on the same scales and that they should be given equal chances of promotion.
KOWLOON CANTON RAILWAY
122. We have considered representations from the Manager of the Railway that clerks serving in that department should be amalgamated with booking clerks, goods clerks and other officers in the department to form a self contained cadre with its own avenues of promotion. For the reasons given in paragraph 86 we have felt unable to endorse this recommendation so long as the Railway remains a department of Government.
123. Provided that they hold the requisite qualifications, we recommend for the mechanical engineer and the mechanical assistant the scales for engineers and assistant engineers respectively. We understand that the title Permanent Way Inspector is at present a misnomer and that the present holder should be known as an Assistant Engineer (Track). Provided that the holder is suitably qualified, we recommend for this post the same salary scale as for an assistant engineer in the Public Works Department.
HARBOUR DEPARTMENT
124. In our recommendations for the remuneration of the Harbour Department staff, we have assumed that the reorganisation scheme proposed by the Harbour Master is acceptable to Government in principle. We have accord- ingly raised the posts of Deputy Harbour Master and Principal Surveyor of Ships to the same level as the Assistant Directors in the Public Works Department and on the assumption that the post of Assistant Harbour Master which is at present vacant will be abolished, we have made no recommendation for the salary of that post.
125. We have regraded the ship surveyors and senior ship surveyors and placed them on scales corresponding to those for Public Works Department engineers and executive engineers respectively. To allow for the high average age of entry of ship surveyors we recommend that these officers should enter the professional scale at $12,720 per annum.
126. We recommend that in future boarding officers together with the Chief Assistant Junk Inspector, the Assistant Shipping Master and the Boats- wain at Yaumati Slipway should be known as Marine Officers and should be on a common scale running from $7,680 to $11,520. We recommend that future recruits to this grade should be required to be in possession of a Master's Certificate. We have prescribed a three year probation during which marine officers should be required to take the first two certificates in Cantonese. We also recommend that the Chief Boarding Officer, the Chief Inspector of Junks and Cargo Boats and the Deputy Shipping Master should be called Senior Marine Officers and be on a common salary scale. We also recommend that the present holder of the post of Inspector of Lighthouses should, in view of his special qualifications, be placed on the same scale as a senior marine officer. When the post falls vacant, we are of the opinion that the new scale should only be given to an officer with equal qualifications.
127. We propose that assistant junk inspectors should be renamed Assistant Marine Officers grade II and be placed on a scale similar to that for Police sub-inspectors grade II, and that the Senior Assistant Junk Inspector should be renamed Assistant Marine Officer grade I and should be on a salary scale of $4,800 rising by annual increments of $300 to $5,400 per annum.
128. For lighthouse-keepers we propose a scale commencing at $2,400 per annum and rising to $6,900 per annum with an efficiency bar between $4,800 per annum and $5,100 per annum. We recommend that principal lighthouse- keepers and the Officer in Charge of the Gunpowder Depôt should enter the technical officers' scale at $7,200 per annum and rise to $9,600 by annual increments of $480.
129. We propose a common scale for floating staff in all departments to include all engineers, coxswains, boatswains, seamen and stokers, except deck staff in the Police and Fire Brigade. We recommend that all such staff except