+
362
I desire to add that I am strongly of
opinion that this concession should apply to the case of the Colonial Secretary when he is required to administer the Government. A Colonial Secretary who has to administer the Govemment on his own salary plus the entertainment allowance is bound, as I know from my own experience, to lose consider- -able sums of money by so doing and it is not probable that he will be able to recoup himself out of the additional salary received while the Governor is on half-pay leave,
unless the absence of the latter is unusually prolonged.
6.
The last general question to which it is necessary to refer is that of quarters, with regard to which the Commission make certain suggestions in the penultimate clause of paragraph 7 of their report. I understand that the primiple underlying their proposal that a certain rent should be charged for the use of a house or an allowance of equal amount given is that the rents suggested are intended to be approximately half the normal rent which an officer would pay for a house suitable for a man of his standing. I think, however, that the adoption of their proposals would probably leed to difficulties if renta generally went either up or down and, though I should be willing to accept their scheme, I should be greatly obliged if Your Lordship would agree to the adoption of the system which is in force in Ceylon and is, as I know, highly appreciated by the service there; that is not to attempt to obtain an economic rent from the houses built by Government for its officers but to make & deduction of 6 per cent from the salary of all officers provided with quarters, other than those to whom free quarters are specifically assigned. It is my intention to push forward the construction of Government quarters until accommodation is provided for all European officers (the number is not so great as to make this an impracticable ideal). When that is done, we shall, if Your Lordship accepts the suggestion
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which