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品
THE CHINAEN
MACGREGOR
COMMITTEE
SITTINGS BEGIN IN MALAYA Lively Interest In F.M.S. Salary Discussions
CRITICISM OF CIVIL SERVICE INCREASE DEMAND
Sittings of the MacGregor Committee which is to investigate the possibility of restoring tempor- ary allowances to officers of the Government Ser- vices in Malaya will open this week, according to the "Straits Times."
*
cessions.
ENVY'S PART
од
Rainfall Now Exceeds The Average
WU TE-CHEN ON KWANGTUNG
Shanghai, To-day.
Rain showers are expected to con- General Wu Te-chen, Chair- tinue to-day, according to the Royal man of the Provincial Govern- Observatory report this morning,
ment of Kwangtung, interviewed which reveals that between 10 a.m. yesterday and 10 a.m. to-day, 1.13
inches of rain fell.
to-day, said that since the unifi-
cation of China last year when This brings the total rainfall Canton gave up her semi-feudal- since January 1 to 41.38 inches, as istic state to come under the against an average of 40.93 inches.
| jurisdiction of the Central Gov- It was slightly cooler this morning, the temperature dropping ernment, much improvement had
been evidenced in the province. two degrees from yesterday's
He went on to say that he maximum of 85 degrees.
would make it his duty to exert his utmost in labouring along four lines of consolidation-poli- tical, economic, educational, and agrarian.--Da-Dao.
moTM
NANKING GRANTS FOR EDUCATION
Sir Atholl MacGregor, the [tion of salary levels in commerce, Chief Justice of Hong Kong, ar- planting and mining is one which rived last week.
the MacGregor Committee will have Written evidence and oral re-to consider. presentations will be taken by the committee at sittings in Government Services also depre- Pressure (reports the Royal Singapore and Kuala Lumpur cate current discussion the Observatory) is highest over the and in other centres if necessary. ground that envy is warping judg-Pacific to the east of the Boning, There are six members of the ment, that dog-in-the-manger atti-and is relatively low over China committee besides Sir Atholl Mac- tude is noticeable, that reasonable generally. A depression is moving gregor, three representing
slowly eastward across Manchuria. the concessions to Government ger- Straits Settlements and three the vants are being
Forecast:- South winds, opposed because Federated Malay States.
other people cannot get those con-derate; fair to showery, Intense public interest has been
That there is envy, frank aroused, but the popular sympathy and universal, is obvious, but that that was so marked when the Buck-in itself has an important bearing nill Commission investigated a
There was a time similar petition in 1919 is absent
It is officially announced by the to-day, according to the "Straits when the public was not envious of Government services, when am-
National Government to-day that bitious, men would not take Gov-
in the National Budget of the SCEPTICAL COMMENT
ernment posts because they thought
Central Government for the com- On the contrary, it says, the us- ual tone of unofficial comment is that there were much better
year, 1937-1938, the It is alle I that an investigationing fiscal portunities
that elsewhere; but
educa- sceptical-and that is putting it mildly. Discussion so far has been time is long since past, and to-day, carried out on the steamer "Thor- amount ear-marked for
Dutch tional and cultural purpose is es- very one-sided, and the Government with memories of the last depres- peball", carried out by services have had to possess their sion and forebodings of a future officials at the request of English timated at $42,934,368 to which and French financiers who are in-is added the sum of $2,949,728 souls in patience while they have one, the typical wage-earner of any. listened to variations on the irrita- class in Malaya would gladly terested in certain Bilbao Banks, which is devoted to grants in aid ting theme that they are already change places with a Government revealed a cargo on board of Jewels, to various educational institu- Bonds, share certificates and cash tions throughout the country,
a making
total of very much better off than any one servant,
amounting to over one million thus else.
guilders.-Trans-Ocean.
$45,884,096.—Da-Dao.
Times."
on the issue.
PRESENT MARGIN
op-
а
Their chance will come, however, That attitude is relevent because when the MacGregor Committee it shows that there is already
the Government begins its task and although that margin between committee has an unofficial majority and non-Government worker. How of 4-2, under a neutral chairman, wide that margin is we will leave the unofficial members will mathematically-inclined readers to doubtless preserve an open mind work out.
until they hear the Government So far as it is possible to form Service's case. Indeed, they can-a tentative opinión, without the not well do otherwise, since that evidence which will be placed be- case has not yet been presented:fore the MacGregor Committee, we and when it is presented we may are inclined to believe that there be sure that this will be support is no case for a salary increase of ed by a wealth of data, collated from 10 per cent, for bachelors and 20 innumerable questionnaires and per cent. for married men in Gov- giving the committee full informa-ernment Service, but that there tion about domestic budgets which may be a case for a smaller in- is not available now.
crease of salary or a restoration of slump cuts.
FIVE POINTS Government salaries must
bear
CIVIL SERVICE RESENTMENT In the meantime, the Government services are inclined to resent the discussion that is going on. They some relation to standards of liv suggest that the public should be ing in the country in which they content to wait the verdict of the are earned; MacGregor Committee.
"Our
The clerical, mercantile and pro-
own view, however, is that fessional classes of this country as the current discussion is not only a whole, have not yet returned to Inevitable but useful, since it opens pre-depression salary levels; the eyes of Government Servants There is already a wide margin to privileges and to contrasts which between the Government services they ordinarily take for granted, and all other wage earners; and it also. throws light on. The present phase of Govern- prevailing economic standards in mental prosperity in this country Malaya. Another reason why it is to may be brief and is inherently in- be welcomed is that it assists in secure; forming an opinion as to how far the In considering whether the actual restoration: ***of
pre-depression cash figure of Government Ser- salaries has gone outside the Gov- vants' salaries be sufficient, it is ernment Services.
fair to take into account the sum-
If it be admitted that. Govern- total of privileges and advantages, | ment standards must be related to tangible and intangible, financial Malayan standards then the ques-and otherwise.
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