J
53723
る
GOVERNMENT "HOUSE,
HONG KONG.
123
No.491.
ATR MAIL.
SOLIVED 20 336 C. O. REGY
19th August, 1936.
Sir,
I have the honour to address you with reference
to Mr. J.H. Thomas' despatch No.82 in the light of which and
with the help of my Executive Council and the Finance Committee
of the Legislative Council I have reviewed the emoluments of
those classes of Hong Kong officials which can be categorized
within the African tables of Standard Time Scales, and also of
certain superscale or isolated appointments. We have not in
this Colony the counterparts of the Standard-Scale officers shewn in the African Lists under the headings Customs, Treasury, Agriculture, Forestry, Survey, Veterinary, and Geological; and the recommendations regarding Standard Scales that follow will therefore deal only with the Administrative, Educational, Police, Medical, Legal, Audit and Engineering Services.
2.
The suggestion in paragraph 8(b) of the despatch under reply, that Government Quarters should be provided for every Standard-Scale officer, is one of which I cannot advise the acceptance in Hong Kong. The towns of Victoria and Kowloon have, as regards housing accommodation, a greater affinity to Liverpool and Birkenhead than to the chief towns and Government Stations of East or West Africa; not only are there private houses and flats to be let, but there are a number of residential hotels which are popular with civil servants. It would, I consider, be a waste of public funds
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
W.G.A. ORMSBY-GORE, P.C., M.P.
&c.,
&c.,
&C.