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for expense than hitherto. My hon. friend on my left (Mr. Parr) referred to the de sirability of encouraging the introduc- tion of new contractors. If any contractor, pan show me that he has some experience of work and has carried out successfully, works elsewhere, I am always ready to include his name in the list of contractorg eligible for tendering for Government works. The hon. member also mentioned in a casual way the desirability of utilis- in level spaces to the south of the Kow- loon hills for recreation purposes.
1 would be glad if he would show me where these level spaces are unless he refers to the swampy places lying to the right and left of the Taupo read near Taikoktsui. There are practically no level spaces that I am aware of at Kowloon that can be rendered available for recreation purposes without the expenditure or a considerable sum of money.
H.E. THE GOVERNOR.
H.E. THE GOVERNOR-Honourable gentle- men-Berore proceeding to refer to one or two ports which have not been referred to either by the Director of Publio Works or the Colonial Secretary, I should like to say how much I, as Head of the Govern meat, appreciate the remarks of the mem- ber for the Chamber of Commerce with re- gard to our three colleagues here; but I would also like to say that we shall get much more work from Mr. Chatham in this Council before he retiros; otherwise I my. self would have referred to his retirement. With regard to the Cadet Service, the senior unotricial member asked for informa- tion on the subject of the efficiency bars and generally on the question of the general scheme of payment by seniority instead of by posts. The position is that in such a small service as this it is extremely difficult to fit the right man into the right post because the man who is an expert police magistrate may be the senior man in his class and under the old system when a post such as that of Postmaster-General or Trea- Burer fell vacant you had to promote the senior mau to the post whether he were the best adapted to the work Or Rot, while there might be £ junior officer who would prove an extremely good man for the post. That is not a very satisfactory position. Another objection to the late system of classification was that promotion in a small service like this was very uneven. A man might be kept back from promotion for quite a long time because his seniors remained in office and it was extremely hard for a wa to be kept in one Classi for ten to twelve years before he could
Bet promotion. I came to the conclusion, and the Secretary of State agreed, that the fairer and better course would be to pay a man on the plan now adopted so as to be certain you can employ a man to the best advantage and puthim into the post for which he is most fit. That involves the Abandoning of the system of classification. There is a danger under this system, of course, that you must always be prepared to get a man who is content to do the minimum amount of work which will enable him to draw his increments. There Is no reason why you should allow a man to proceed from top to bottom of the scale doing only a minimum amount of work, enough to make sure of his increments. For this reason two halting places have been made one at £600 and one at £900 and only men who are considered really worth higher pay will draw increments beyoud tlivse figures. 1 think that is the ouly satisfactory solution, and under this scheme really good men will get promotion. In connection with that subject the hon. member drew attention to the tact that in the Estimates certain departments showed blanks, e.g., on page 17. The reason for that is partly this change in classification but in any case it was thought desirable to place the Cadet Ser- vice under a separate hoad for convenience of accounting. This system is followed by the Federated Malay States and Ceylon after co..siderable experience in trying to make things clear. It has the disadvantage of not enabling anybody to see at a glance the total cost of a department, but I guar antee nobody has been able to ascertain what the total cost of a department was in Hongkong under the other system. An officer put into a department as a substitute would draw part of his pay from one depart ment for his previous position and part from the department in which he was tem porarily placed, and this gave a very con- siderable amount of annoyance to accounting officers, as the hon. Colonial 'reasurer will tell you. I can see that at first sight it looks rather curious to find all departments given in the Estimates without any heads, but I am sure when you get used to the system you will agree with me that it is more satisfactory.
the
With regard to what the hon. member has said with regard to Magazine Gap Road, I confess to a certain amount of sympathy, with the hon. member; and may say this Is one of the points on which 1 differ from some of my official colleagues. I think, however, some of the fears expressed by the hon, member are rather unnecessary. I do think the road is desirable. It will open up new sites and will relieve the intolerable congestion on the Peak Tramway, at least we hope so. The Peak Tramway will, we hope, be improved, and that is one reason that the Colonial Secretary has given why the Wanchai Tramway has been dropped for the moment, but it certainly will take sometime before the improvement of the tramway is possible and meanwhile I think it is highly desirable that the road should be provided to relieve the conge tion. I think the danger to children is slightly exaggerated. The roads have many uses but playgrounds for children is not one of them. There is no serious danger to children if they are properly looked after. The road will be 20ft. wide, and we are not depriving the children of any roads they have habitually used because the road is practically on a new, line.
Hon. Mr. POLLOCK-There are very im. portant parts of the road, sir, which will disturb the present road that the children now use in going to the playground and for walks. This road will not, as far as I am aware, open up any new sites.
The DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC Wonks-I do not think it will open up many.
H.E. THE GOVERNOR-If the new road had opened up any big number of sites I would have had no hesitation whatever in recommending it, but the fact that it will open up any sites at all is suffi- oient justification for the opening of the road. The provision of an alternative route to the Peak is also one of importance. With regard to the disturbance of the peace and quiet of the Peak, I do not think there is serious danger of night being made hideous by a continual stream of cars racing over the Peak all night. Is there not a time limit, after which hired motor cars
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