Sir S.Wilson.
35
letter:
You should see the China Association's
we may hear more from them on the subject.
that
It is unfortunate that the main file has
been mislaid, but I do not like to hold up this
it is
paper any longer while they being hunted for.
You may remember the circumstances in which it
was decided
-
after a good deal of controversy in
Parliament and elsewhere
that Hong Kong
officials should be paid their salaries at current
rates of exchange (subject to fixed limits).
The decision removed what the officials had
regarded as a grievance for some time past;
but
the commercial and non-official community look at
the matter from a somewhat different angle, and
are disposed to ask why Hong Kong Civil Servants
should benefit just at a time when Civil Servants
everywhere else are suffering loss. The argument
is a plausible one, and may be used against us
with some effect; but I take it that there can
be no question of going back on a decision which
was reached after the fullest consideration of the
whole matter. The alternative suggestion of a
general 10% cut in sterling salaries would
clearly be justified if the state of the Colony's
finances demanded it; but as they do not (at
present at all events), there is no case for its
adoption.
(Sir R.Hamilton may like to see the
papers? If I remember right, he interested
himself