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THE HONG KONG WEEKLY PRESS &
March 27, 1936
Over Fourteen Million Dollars For Salaries
60
mounting to $4,366,901.00,
and
Asiatic Officers
Transport
120,000.00
475,000.00
2,643,000.00
Interest on Public Debt mounting to $1,390,831.00, making a total of $5,757,732.00. Subtract- ng this sum from the total ex- penditure there will remain the sum of $23,840,416.00 available for all other purposes, and it will be rather illuminating to see how much of this available surplus- which, in order to avoid undue re- petition, I have called the "avail- able expenditure"-has been ab- sorbed by salaries. I may inciden- tally mention that of this avail- able expenditure no less than $3,207,560.00 has been earmarked for Public Works Extraordinary.
THE SALARIES' FIGURES
I have added the totals of all personal emoluments set out in the Estimates for 1936, and I find that the total comes to the sum uf $11,457,821.00. In order to get a correct picture of the amount spent on salaries in the Civil Ser- vice in relation to income one has to add at least three important items to the above sum which, staggering as it is, is not the full bill which the Colony has to pay. To begin with it must be remem- bered that the figures given in the 1936 Estimates are based, so far as Sterling salaries are concerned, on a 1/8d dollar. The Acting Colonial Secretary stated in his speech, above referred to, that in terms of Sterling the amount budgeted for as representing Salaries, Purchases from Crown Agents, Pensions, etc., comes to just over £750,000, and all the salary figures must be very substantially increased when the Sterling commitment is calculated at the prevailing rate of Ex- change, namely, round about a 1/31d. dollar. Moreover, the salary figure of nearly eleven and a half million does not include Pensions, Rent Allowances Transport. It must of course be conceded that Rent Allowances and Transport must be included. And I submit that this applies equally to Pensions, for it is now generally accepted that a pension is in truth not a reward or gift. but rather a deferred wage, or a compensation paid to the employee for the gradual destruction of his wage-earning capacity in the course of his work. The figures for the three items mentioned above are as follows:- Pensions
$1,810,000.00
Misc. Services
Rent Allowances:—
Senior Officers
$ 128,000.00
European Subor- dinate Officers
110,000.00
or
Therefore, if you add the total of $2,643,000.00 to the total of $11,457,821.00 you get the stupend- ous sum of $14,100,821 as the full bill for salaries. Another way of stating this position is that out of approximately twenty three and a half million "available expendi- ture" (of which nearly three and a half million is earmarked for Public Works Extraordinary), the sum of over fourteen million is spent on salaries; in other words, 60% is spent on salaries, leaving the sum of just over nine and a half million to cover the whole cost of Civil Administration, in- cluding Social Services and the thousand and one items of essen- tial public expenditure. Need I say more to show that the exist- ing Civil Service is too costly for the Colony to bear? Is it exag- geration of language to say that, unless this crushing burden of salaries is substantially reduced, all hopes of effecting substantial improvements in the Colony must indefinitely be relegated to the realm of fanciful dreams?
INTENTION TO RETRENCH
I am aware that Government has, year after year, expressed its intention to retrench. For ins-
tance, during the Budget Debate in 1931 His Excellency Sir William Peel said:-
"When I came here, I was im- pressed by the large number of European staff, particularly in the subordinate grades. Steps are being taken to replace some of these gradually by local offi- cers, though it is a step which must be taken with caution. Government is ready to give local recruits every chance, and it will be for them to prove that such confidence is not mis- placed. This policy can only be followed if local recruits prove that they possess the necessary integrity and efficiency. If they fail to do this, they and the Colony cannot complain if we have to revert to the system which has obtained hitherto. The matter lies in their hands.” (Hansard, page 191).
In the Budget. Debate in 1934 His Excellency Sir William · Peel said:-
.
"We are, however, carrying out a scheme of a local branch of the Senior Clerical and Ac-
en-
counting Staff and are deavouring to train local sanit- ary inspectors....Further, I hope that it may be possible to train local nursing sisters and so re- duce the large number of sisters recruited from England. I pro- pose to go into this question with my Honourable friend, the Director of Medical and Sanit- ary Services." (Hansard, page 187).
In the Budget Debate in 1935 the Hon. the Acting Colonial Secretary said:-
"The Government has fully and frankly accepted that policy of replacing wherever possible European by Asiatic employees, but it must be evident that such a policy can show its full effect only gradually." (Hansard, page 201).
A DISAPPOINTINGLY SMALL RESULT
And, yet, what is the actual re- sult? I must confess that if any result has been achieved it is so disappointingly small that I am quite unable to discern it! In his answers to my questions on the January 16, 1936, the Hon. the Colonial Secretary stated that the number of European Civil Ser- vants employed rose from 647 in ' 1923, to 975 in 1935; that as re- gards the European Senior Clerical and Accounting Staff the same rose from 24 in 1923, to 63 in 1935; and that 52 additional Europeans have been employed since the date of the Retrenchment Commission Report in 1931.
May I respectfully ask what ac- tual steps have been taken by Government to give effect to that policy, so "fully and frankly ac- cepted by Government," of replac- ing wherever possible European by Asiatic employees? In this con- nection I would like to bring for- ward a case which happened to come to my knowledge a few weeks
A ago.
certain Chinese from Canton recently saw me in connection with his application for the post of Assistant Govern- ment Analyst which was then vacant. His qualifications and re- ferences were unexceptionable. He duly sent in his application, but later he understood that a Sterling man from England had just em- barked to fill up this post. What steps did Government take to find a suitable man locally to fill up this post before resorting to en- gaging a new man in England? I do respectfully press for an answer to this question, not in the in- terests of this particular applicant
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