t
:
lop Y.
Hon. Colonial Secretary,
CO
25926
Rece
299
Brat 4 AUG 10
The extra allowances are enough to attract
the best men to the detective branch, especially as such work
is much more interesting and more congenial than street duty.
Still I should like to see the allowances increased. The
suggestion occurred to propose an incremental scale of allow-
-ances according to length of service on the detective staff.
This at first sight looks simple and natural but it presents
one rather serious drawback, which is this. A detective
constable (with his allowance) gets the same pay as a 2nd.
class Sergeant who is not a detective. When a vacancy occurs for
a 2nd. class Sergeant it generally happens that all (or nearly
all) the senior constables are detectives. If the vacancy is a
detective one there is no difficulty, but if it is for a barrack
Sergeant a detective constable gains nothing by the promotion
and as a rule they are not very keen and to take it. If the
detective constables were to get still more pay, and no in-
-crease made in the pay of 2nd. class Sergeants, this difficulty
will be accentuated, and the field of choice for 2nd. class
barrack Sergeants seriously limited. I have given the matter
a lot of consideration in all its aspects, but cannot claim
to have arrived at an ideal solution. On the whole I think the
best thing would be to give increased allowances only to those
who have had really long service on the detective staff, and
have proved their worth. I suggest that after 10 years' good
($5 p.m.). service on the staff the allowance should be increased by
$2.50 a month, and a further $2.50 for each additional 5 years
up to 20 as the limit. Of course high pay won't purchase
honesty. There is so much to be made by crooked dealings if a
man is dishonest that we cannot possibly afford to "bribe" him
into honesty. P.S. Hau Hang is a splended worker and I think
should be paid better than any of the others, though there are
other good men as well. I would make him "Principal Chinese
Detective" and increase his pay by $15 a month.