Secretary supported the scheme generally, and further suggested that 3 particular men who within the last four years had joined the department at $720 should get their increments reckoned from the date of their joining the service:
There recommendations do not appear to me to have dealt with the case of Macleod, who at that time was an Overseer of a higher grade with a salary of $720, though I do not suppose it was intended that the junior Officers should in time pass over the heads of the seniors.
M. Hennessy's minute states his approval of Mr. Bowdler's scheme subject to Mr. Price's modifications, but referred the matter first to the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council. The latter body passed a resolution in favour of the adoption of the scheme as modified, provided that the salaries of "the four" overseers be increased by the increment of $48 a year dating from the expiration of one year's service from the date of their appointments.
As Mr. Price's report speaks of 5 overseerships, apparently only recommended 3 for the benefit of the scheme, the Finance Committee should have explained who "the four" were. I should like to know what they meant by the date of his appointment; even if it meant Macleod's appointment, I think the increment should have been calculated from 1 Jan 1870, in which case he contends that from his appointment to the $720 grade he have drawn $1008 for 1876, at the rate of $1056 for 1888 when he retired, not $100 on which his pension has been based.
...
RECEIVED 18 JAN 22.
293
Government House, Hongkong, 7th December, 1881.
My Lord,
Adverting to Your Lordship's despatch No. ... of the 28th February, 1881 relative to Mr. Edmund W. Macleod's pension, I have the honour to transmit for Your Lordship's information...
The Right Honourable,
The Earl of Kimberley,
Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies,
...
INR 26/1/82