337
»
-
very junior in the service and for some years to come
I think that it will be necessary to make other arrangements
I am not yet prepared to make a definite proposal on the point and the object of this despatch is to lay before Your Grace a suggestion with regard to the Cadet Service, which arises out of a consideration of the present circumstances.
There are now four Class I appointments in the Cadet Service, those of Treasurer, Secretary for Chinese Affairs, Director of Education and First Police Hagistrate. At present also the post of Captain Superintendent of Police is held by a Cadet Officer but that post has been removed from the Cadet classification and I think that it is
unlikely that it will ever again be held by a Cadet Officer at least, if it is, it will only be accidentally, just as at the moment the posts of Puisne Judge and Attorney General
are held by officers who entered the service as Cadets. In
the year 1904 the total number of Cadet Officers was 19 and
the number of First Class appointments was 4. In the
Estimates for 1924 provision is made for 32 officers of the
Cadet Service and the mmber of First Class appointments is
still four. It is true that the system of continuous
increments up to £1200 has effected a considerable
improvement in the prospects of the service as a whole but
the fact remains that the proportion of prize appointments
to the total number of members of the service has been very
materially reduced while there can be no question that the
amount of work and responsibility which now falls upon them
is far greater than it was twenty years ago. If the post
of Director of Education is shut to the Cadet Service for
some years to come there will be only three first class appointments open to its members and I submit that that is
not a reasonable proportion. The suggestion which I desire to put forward is that there shall in future be five
officers
I