:
33
officers similarly situated on the oocasion of the last
revision.
On the other hand the views expressed by the
Committee in paragraph 115 of their deport appear to me to
carry much weight and to deserve careful consideration. I
should therefore be obliged if in replying to this despatch
you would desl fully with this aspect of the matter.
7.
•
I have endoavoured in the preceding paragraphs to
indicate the main issues which arise on the Committee'a
Report in relation to Hong Kong: . Other points will no
doubt occur to you in the course of your examination of the
Report, but I do not at this stage wish to trouble you
with the proposala regarding transfer arrangements which
will form the subject of a separate despatch. With this
exception, I have now to request you to furnish me with
your observations on the Report generally, snd in particular
with your views on the question of adopting the committee's
suggestions in so far as they involve variations in the
existing rules and practice in Hong Kong. In so doing,
I would invite you particularly to bear in mind the
circumstances in which the Committee was appointed and the
special advantages which they enjoyed in considering the
questions referred to them. In the first place one of the
main purposes of their deliberations was to ascertsin
whether it was possible to devise & scheme not only for
simplifying the various leave and psasage systems which in
course of time have grown up in different Dependencies, but
also for introducing a resl measure of unification in the
principles and practice as regarda leave and passage
privileges for members of u.ified services and officers of
corresponding status throughout the Colonial Service.
Secondly,