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the present scales of salary in Hong Kong,
even after making the necessary adjustments
in respect of quarters, are somewhat generous;
and having regard to the considerations which
I have put forward earlier in this despatch,
and to the financial situation, you will probably
consider that some reduction in the case of new
entrants to certain branches might reasonably
be effected. I could not recommend the
adoption of scales inferior to those devised
for Tropical Africa, (which in view of the
financial position of the Dependencies concerned
have been fixed on a minimum basis) but I do not
apprehend that it should be necessary to maintain
a higher level. In fact, I should hope that it
might be found practicable to adopt either the
East African or the West African set of time-
scales as it stands. Apart from considerations
of uniformity and simplicity, it appears to me
that at all events in the case of the
Administrative