550
Enclosure 2.
from the scheme, although a substantial part of their emoluments may be absorbed in payment of rent.
(c) Where officers share a Government house a percentage is charged on each officer's salary. It is true that the percentage charged is generally speaking a small rent for the sole use of quarters; but it is often a high rent for a part share, so that the present rule militates against the sharing of houses by two or more officers, which, given suitable conditions, is a desirable arrangement from the point of view of making best use of the available accommodation.
(d) In present circumstances the maximum allowances are too low for officers with salaries of less than £900 a year, as suitable rented quarters are seldom obtainable within the maxima prescribed. Now that rent control has been abolished and the normal laws of supply and demand again operate in the Colony, it is probable that rents will increase and the discrepancy between the maximum rentals allowed and the rents which in practice have to be paid will become greater.
3.
I, therefore, submit for your
consideration a revised scheme as set out in the enclosed draft designed to remedy the defects in the present scheme.
4.
It is estimated that the adoption of these proposals would involve an additional cost of approximately $22,000 a year. This I consider justified in view of the greater fairness of the new scheme, which would give further assistance to those of ficers both senior and junior who find it most difficult under
3
present