3
202
DRAFT.
(6859/88)
Gov.No.68 19 Mar.83 S.of S. No.93 12 May/83
ouis
ttunt 10
or aball tomto so
(Par.26 of 25850/88)
In dealing with this please of the question
4.
Before discussing the question of retrenchment, it may be well to make it clear what has been the attitude taken up on the salary question by successive Secretaries of State and by the Unofficial members of the Legislative Council respectively.
5. In 1883 a Memorial was presented by a number of Civil servants, applying for a general increase of pay; the then Secretary of State, the Earl of Derby, was decisively disposed to accede to the application (as will be seen by reference to the correspondence noted in the margin). For the next five years the question appears to have remained in abeyance, nothing being said during that interval by any Secretary of State which could be taken as suggesting that the general rate of salaries was too low.
6. The question, however, was raised afresh in connection with the estimates for 1889, and the proposals then put forward were supported by the Unofficial Members who expressed an opinion in favour of an increase amounting to 20 or 25% all round. My predecessor refrained from committing himself to any approval of such general increase, confining himself to a suggestion that (in the first instance) a Committee composed of officials and unofficial members should be appointed.