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promoted to the grade of Senior Nursing
Sisters after 10 years' service, instead of
the 15 years' service suggested in the
petition.
The grounds upon which both the
petition and the despatch base their suggestion
for revision of the present scheme are that
other Colonies offer higher rates of
remuneration and consequently better prospects
to their Nursing staff. Enclosure 2 is a
comparative table of salaries paid to Nurses
in East Africa, West Africa and Malaya.
Although the salaries paid in Hong Kong compare
on the whole favourably with those in East
Africa, this is not so in the case of Nursing
Sisters; whilst in West Africa and Malaya the
rates of remuneration are considerably higher.
This is of course understandable in West Africa,
and to a certain extent also in Malaya due to
the higher cost of living obtaining there than
in Hong Kong. Nevertheless, when these
factors
have been taken into account I think
it will be found that rates of remuneration in
Hong Kong are disproportionately lower. Were
this allowed to continue it would almost
certainly have an adverse effect upon the
efficiency of the Nursing staff in Hong Kong.
The Governor proposes that these new
scales should come into operation with effect
from the 1st January, 1939. No provision has
been made for them in the 1939 estimates, and
supplementary provision would be required.
But
the