Sir.
Duplicate
HONGKONG
Co 7813 31st January 1912
253
R14 MAR 12
I have the honour to submit the attached correspondence that has passed between the Government of Hongkong and myself in respect of a request that Duty Pay may attach to the post of Assistant Crown Soliciter or that the present pay ( 1,e,) be increased.
From the correspondence it will be seen that upon an application for the post I ascertained that it was placed in Class III of the Sterling Salary Scheme which at the time I accepted the Post I certainly understood to be the approved Scheme of £ 400 to £ 560 by £ 20 annually with Duty Pay of £ 100.
My letter of acceptance crossed one from the Colonial Secretary's office offering me the Post under the old scheme of £ 420, rising to £ 500 by £ 40 triennially, in answer to which I at once wrote the letter of the 5th. of September 1911 asking whether some mistake had not been made in the Salary offered.
The
Colonial Secretary's letter of the 24th. of October 1911 states that the terms offered to me by His Excellency the Governor are in accordance with the instructions of the Secretary of State, but under the circumstances His Excellency very kindly informed me that he would not hold me to my acceptance of the Post if the same was given upon a misunderstaning.
I desire to remain in the Service and have in consequence been holding the Post since under the terms of the offer made by His Excellency, I would however respectfully ask that I may be allowed to come under the new Scheme now adopted and approved of by the Secretary of State, namely £ 400 to £ 560 by £ 20
annually with Duty Pay of £ 100.
My reasons for asking for this are amongst others as follows :-
1.
The terms offered by His Excellency were upon instruc- tions given by the Secretary of State before he had approved of the Duty Pay Schemewhich has since been adopted in favour of other Officers in Class III, and later, upon a different basis, in favour of the Engineering Staff of the Public Works Department of this Colony.