17.
225
16)
Development Scheme into which, instead of into Revenue, was paid
the sum of $1,257,500 received for the site of the new offices of
the Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation.
This scheme has
been suspended since 1935 though the only object of treating it as
a separate financial entity would appear to be that it should not
be affected by the general condition of the Colony's finances.
As there is no urgent need either for a new Government House
or for the development of the part of the City involved, it is
submitted that the balance of the funds of this scheme should be
transferred to revenue.
15. Your Petitioners respectfully submit that much of the feeling
against the public servants on the part of the Unofficial Members
of Council and a small section of the community, which now, as in
the past, has evidenced itself by a demand for a levy on civil
service salaries, would never have arisen if the size of the
service had been kept within reasonable bounds and might even now
be removed by a reduction in the size of the service.
For at least the last eight years there has been much talk
of retrenchment and in July, 1930, a Retrenchment Commission was
appointed to consider the sufficiency of the then existing staff
and the possibility of reducing the same, the possibility of
extending the method of temporary employment, the sources from
which personnel should be supplied and the possibilities of
economy in the general administration of the Government.
In order to illustrate the position and to show how little
has been effected by way of retrenchment it would seem sufficient
to quote figures recently supplied at the request of an Unofficial
Member of Council and to cite further figures indicating the
strength of staff in one or two offices.
The total number of European civil servants at the end of
1923 was 647, at the end of 1931 it was 923 and at the end of 1935
it was 975.
The strength of the European Senior Clerical and Accounting
staff at the end of 1923 was 21 and at the end of 1931 it had