XX CONFIDENTIAL.
AIR MAIL.
Sir,
23
GOVERNMENT HOUSE,
HỒNG KÔNG,
117
19th May, 1936.
With reference to the seventeenth paragraph
of my confidential despatch of the 6th March, 1936, on the
subject of the levy on salaries, I have the honour to inform you that I propose, subject to your approval, to introduce
into Legislative Council a resolution providing for relief
in the case of officers with certain sterling commitments.
2.
This resolution will provide for the payment
to an officer having a wife or a child under the age of
twenty-one dependent on him in a sterling or gold-standard
country of one sixth of his salary (after deduction of
salary levy and Widows & Orphans' Pension contribution) at
the Treasury rate for the month of payment; and to an officer
having two or more such dependents of one third of his
salary under the same conditions.
3.
The cost of this concession is estimated
at $25,000 in respect of the first three quarters of the
current year. It is not proposed to continue it after
the end of September when the artificial rate of exchange
is expected to approximate closely to the Treasury rate.
My Executive Council and the Finance
4.
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
J.H. THOMAS, M. P.,
&C.,
&C.,
&C.