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EXTRACT from letter from Sir William Peel to
Sir Samuel Wilson. Private and Confidential.
Dated 2nd July, 1930.
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There was a great deal of Press and other
opposition to the revised salaries scheme, but the main opposition was based on the fact that the dollar
at present is very low. My view, which I expressed in Council, was that, if we accepted the Commission's
report, which Government did, the payment of the
suggested rates simply became an overdue debt, which
must be discharged. Southorn rather wanted to
postpone the resolution until the dollar improved, but
I came to the conclusion that, if we delayed, the
snowball of opposition set rolling by the Press would
gradually grow and make the whole thing more difficult. I was averse, however, from raising the assessment
rates, which would have resulted doubtless in a
rise of rents, so explored carefully other avenues
of taxation. Tobacco, petrol and stamps will be
fruitful sources, and the new taxation has caused
little outery. In taking this line I felt that we
should probably undercut a good deal of the opposition.
In this I seem to have been correct, for since the
resolution was passed in Council, we have heard very
little about it. The Chinese members on the whole
were in favour of a revision, but deprecated its
being