8
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In this connection I must point out that
in accordance with the Report of the Colonial
Audit Committee, 1910, and the Colonial Audit
Departmental Instructions (No.3) the salaries of
Auditors and Assistant Auditors of the Colonial
Audit Department are to be fixed, not by the
Governor subject to the approval of the Secretary
tate the line with the of State - as is the case with other officers - Seil. Mouw at wil.
auncy aver
much to his
AF
but by the Secretary of State after consultation
with the Governor. As Director of Colonial Audit
and responsible for the proper audit of the
Hong Kong accounts, I consider that the salaries
proposed by the Salaries Commission for the Audit
Office are not satisfactory as compared with
those proposed for other Departments in the case
of the Auditor, nor as compared with the cost of
living as well in the case of the 3rd Assistant
Auditor. I will however deal with the last case
in a separate minute. As regards the Auditor, the
main trouble is the inadequate minimum salary.
An officer who is getting £1100 or £1200 a year
plus free quarters and passages on leave in Tropical
Africa will normally not wish to transfer to so
expensive a Colony as Hong Kong on £1100 plus
-
a High Cost of Living allowance of 7 or 15%
with six years to serve before he reaches £1400
+H.C.L. allowance. A salary of £1300 - £50
which is less than what is proposed by the
Salaries Commission for the Head of the Police
and the Harbour Master-1350
£50 £1600,- (and
I see that the Hong Kong Government propose to
-
put the Head of the Police up to £1450 £50
and the pay of the Deputy Head to £1400would
£1.500-
£1.600
enable
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9
Thane kuran Garmas when I then to world from themes Hor oft by ke You
tund it
enable Hong Kong to get a really good Auditor.
If however it is thought impossible to give
the Auditor a maximum of £1500
Go
though I
consider that the Auditor ought to have
a higher maximum than the maximum (£1400) of
the time scale to which every Cadet Officer
can rise automatically provided he passes his
"efficiency bars", and he certainly ought to
get more than the Deputy Head of the Police
Department, I should be prepared to accept
as a compromise a fixed salary of £1400 plus
H.C.L. allowance (or 450 if the Deputy
Treasure or Deputy Head of the Police Depart-
ment is given £450). A fixed salary is in
many ways more suitable for an Auditor than
an incremental scale, as the latter may tend
to deter an Auditor from doing his duty if he
has not attained his maximum and is confronted
with a Governor who, he thought might use his
power of withholding an increment certificate
to induce the Auditor to refrain from pursuing
some question which the Governor wanted to be
dropped. I don't say that any Governor would
so abuse his powers; but an Auditor might not
care to run the risk with some Governors.
A... Harding
Director of Colonial Audit.
73
March, 1930.
ge 9
ge 9
Page
Page
:
10
e 10
M'Ellis
I hope to send
Salames Commission ple
th
for
But
the
as
mean tums
or
the
most want
Anditor; salary is concerned
fixing the 2 suggest
deasin
This week, a
this
That a
Shr
be
taken
without
that
delay
12
to
points
16
The D.C. A;
minute
()
The
late Gar's
recommendation
9 R. Dallin
(2) the
་་་་་ས་སྐ-ས་
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undesirability of the
Auditor's salary teme
meremental sale.
On the first point from my
here
talks
with R' Dallin (who has
just returned
I share
from Have) 2
worded views of ch
the
shongly
4 his
Handing
as
complete
this
omih
unsuitability for promchen to
appl
On the second point
to me
dearly undesirable that the salary
fixed for the Auditor shr
degree depend
certificate
on
The same
h
arey
the Grovemar's
apaust
e 10Page 11
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