16
completion of 25 years' tropical service and the attainment of 50 years of age. This proposal is however inconsistent with the general lines of Colonial pension legislation, and it would be preferable that any
alterations should be made as would not conflict with
the general pension scheme. In this connection it may be recalled that the "climatic addition" of 5/60ths
was regarded by the 1908 Pension Committee as unsatis-
factory, and they recommended that in its place Colonies which gave it should calculate pensions in 50ths (or 600ths per month). If Hong Kong were to adopt this rate, the difficulty to which the Governor refers would to some
extent be met. The officer invalided early in his service would get a lower proportion of his emoluments than at present, but the officer who stays out his time
would get more. The maximum would be reached in 400
months' service
-
33 1/3rd years as against 35 at present. Before discussing the question of the rate
further, it will be well to refer to the questions of death gratuity and of gratuity and reduced pension, since the extent to which these benefits are allowed materially affects the general value of the superannuation provisions from the officer's point of view.
So far the Hong Kong Government has shown no
intention of conforming in these respects to the
arrangements recommended by the 1922-24 Committee, which
are now in force in most Colonies. The proposals as
to death gratuity made in the Governor's despatch of 16th
March, 1927 are considerably less generous than those recommended by the Committee, in that the benefits are
to be restricted to officers with not less than 10 years' service who actually leave dependents. Furthermore
there