2.
18
in paragraph 3(d) of the attached report. In the ordinary
course the supply of soldiers discharged in the Colony may
be expected to fill all possible demands, but I shall be
glad to have Your Lordship's general approval for Colonial
Regulation 20 to be waived in the case of any soldier
selected for employment on special grounds but unable to
obtain his discharge until his Regiment has been transferred
to India.
5.
I shall be obliged if the War Office may be
informed of the action taken by this Government which it is
hoped will go some way to solve the difficult question of
the employment of ex-soldiers.
6.
Apart from the question of soldiers
transferred to Government employment on discharge here,
there is the further case of those who wish to enter other
branches of civil life in Hong Kong. The Government has
always in such circumstances insisted upon a proper
guarantee of repatriation from the employer in the event
of the man becoming unemployed within a period of five
years, as it is most undesirable that such persons should
be left without subsistence in the Colony and I do not
consider that the cost of repatriating such persons should
fall on the Colonial Government.
7.
In certain cases, and in particular when
vacancies are available in the Chinese Maritime Customs,
it has been found impossible to obtain the required
guarantee from the prospective employer and desirable
employment is lost unless an outside guarantee is forthcoming
In one instance the regimental fund provided the guarantee.
The difficulty is caused by the refusal of
the War Office to guarantee the repatriation of a locally
8.
discharged