511.
RECEIVED
1 - JAN 1330
COL. OFFICE
Enclosures 1 & 2.
My Lord,
20
2
GOVERNMENT HOUSE,
HONGKONG, 28th November, 1929.
I have the honour to request Your Lordship's
ruling in the following matter.
2.
Owing to the shortage of Cadet Officers it
has on two occasions during recent years been necessary to
call upon one such officer to discharge the duties of two
distinct offices in separate departments for some considerable
period, Mr. E. H. Williams being called upon to take charge
of the southern district of the New Territories for a period
of two months in 1928, while also discharging the functions of Assistant Secretary for Chinese Affairs, and Mr. N. L.
Smith to take charge of the Sanitary Department as well as
the Post Office for 12 weeks in the current year.
3.
The rules of this Go vernment in the matter
of acting pay differ considerably from those laid down by Colonial Regulations owing chiefly to the fact that the almost universal practice of commuting half pay leave rarely
allows any salary to lapse which could be drawn by the acting officer. Copies of the Hong Kong General Orders dealing with acting pay in single and double posts are
enclosed, and it will be seen that prima facie the periods
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
LORD PASSFIELD,
&c.
&c.,
&C.,
of