9
HR. Conf.
192
17.957
(Autmits obgons on the catarie. Serviced for the Administration,
under the general revision
This despatch asks for a revision of the
decisions already reached regarding the revised
scales of salary in Hong Kong. The main points are:-
(1) that senior officers in Hong Kong should
have a prospect of attaining salaries equivalent to
N. P those offered for senior posts in Malaya. The new
super-scale salaries in Hong Kong have been fixed
in relation to the Colonial Service generally, and
not in relation to Malaya, where the general average
of salaries is higher than elsewhere, and I do not
think the decision already reached can now be
changed.
(2) that the existing system of a general
senior grade of Class I Cadets should be continued
in place of the new proposal for definite appointments
to a fixed number of super-scale posts. The 0.A.G.
fears that with some 30 Cadet officers only in
Hong Kong the new proposals may lead to a lack of
N.P. elasticity.
While it appears to me probable that
in the circumstances of Hong Kong the existing
system may have many advantages, I do not see why
the proposal to establish a system of making definite
appointments to super-scale posts need necessarily
lead to lack of elasticity, since I presume that
appointments to these posts, both acting and
substantive, may be varied as is thought desirable
in the interests of the Service as a whole. The
difficulty, and I imagine the real grievance of the
Cadet Service, is that the practice of making
7
technical appointments to senior posts will gradually
reduce