2.
9
reach their maximum during the course of this year. At
the end of 1936, seven officers who are qualified for pro- motion will have been on their maximum for three years or
more. In 1929, there were four promotions from Class 11
to Class 1; in 1930, 3; in 1931, 3; but in 1932, 1933,
1934 and 1935, there was only one promotion each year and it is improbable that there will be more than one during 1936.
It is therefore obvious that circumstances
3.
-
have changed considerably since the time of Sir William
Peel's despatch which I have quoted above. The peculiarly
favourable conditions as regards promotion which obtained
prior to 1932 mainly due to frequent transfers of Class 1
Inspectors to other departments no longer exist and what
might be described as a period of stagnation has set in.
Whereas some of the officers now in Class 1 were undoubtedly
fortunate in securing early promotion it would appear that
the pendulum has now swung to the other extreme and has left
many of the officers at present in Class 11 in a very un-
fortunate position. It is not surprising that these officers
view their future prospects with a misgiving which is further
enhanced by such an anomaly as two officers with only a few
months' difference in length of service, but otherwise of
equal qualifications, being so situated that one of them is
in Class 1 and drawing an annually increasing salary on a
higher scale while the other continues for several years to
draw the maximum of Class 11.
4.
In order to remove these causes of dissatis-
faction, I propose, subject to your approval, to abolish
the division into Classes 1 and 11 and to substitute there-
for a through time-scale with annual increments. The
through-scale suggested is £260 to £430 by nine increments
of £10, one of £20 and four of £15. Although at first sight
it might appear that the nine increments of £10 in the lower
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