2
allowance of £100 from Imperial funds (Mr. C. McI Messer) 193
and one appointment of £600 to £720 with a personal allowance
of £75 ( Mr. E.A. Irving ).
M
The woll earned promotion of these gentlemen ( some of
whom Sir Henry May, Mr. Sorcombe Smith and Mr.Gompertz
have since been transferred to higher duties which are not
necessarily cadet appointments ) cannot be claimed to he
merely the natural reward of long service and extended
experience, for there are several officers on the medical
staff whose ago and experience equal those of the most
senior of the above named gentlemen, but it has been due to
the greater opportunities for promotion which exist in the
cadet service and the absence of which in the medical service
of the Colony sooms to us to he one of the strongest argu-
ments in favour of an amelioration of our condition It has
recently bean decided moreover that the cadet officers, whose
prospects of promotion are so much greater than ours, are
inadequately paid, and will in future receive duty pay in
addition to the salaries indicated in the foregoing paragraph,
with regard to the engineering staff we wish to point
out that in addition to the Director of Public Works (£1000
to £1200) there are two Assistant Directors of Public Works
at salaries of £720 to £810, so that the Officers of that
Department have something to look forward to as the reward
of good service even though they may never attain to the
dignity of head of the Department.
It may be argued that the climate and conditions of
life in Hongkong are such that Officers should he content
to serve at lower salaries than elsewhere, but we would