disadvantage rather than an advantage and is
exactly what I meant by saying in the enclosed
memorandum that a Commission of this kind would
begin its task full of their local prejudices
and would not bring to bear that independence of
judgment which is obviously the desideratum.
4
There is also a further point. One of
the greatest difficulties which Hong Kong has now
to face is that of recruitment. It seems to me
idle to suggest that the recruiting problem is
likely to be solved a merely by small increases of
salaries here and there or the adoption of more
favourable schemes for exchange compensation.
What is most urgently needed is that the Hong Kong service should be better and more widely known, that
the life and conditions and interests of the Colony and its officers should be more prominently in
the public eye, and that schools and universities
should be brought to realise that there is a useful,
honourable and not unremunerative career available
for entrants to the Public Service of Hong Kong. It seems to me worth while applying this argument to the question here at issue. If a purely local Commission is appointed Hong Kong will get little or no publicity from it. Nobody outside the Colony will read the Report and nobody apart from a few enquirers will realise what improvements have been
effected. On the other hand if an independent Commission is appointed there would be a good opportunity to appoint somebody of importance in the recruiting world here who, having familiarised himself with conditions out there and having taken his share in placing the salaries and privileges of public officers on a reasonable footing, might prove an invaluable asset to us in procuring young men
for