sterling salaries, and every dollar taken off the nominal dollar
salary for any purpose was equivalent to a levy of 3/- sterling.
Now, all the dollar officers at present concerned were obliged
to contribute to a widows' and orphans' pension fund or scheme,
and the rate of contribution was 4% on their salaries. All
sterling officers were also obliged to contribute 4% of their
salaries. Thus a sterling officer on a salary of £600 would
contribute the current equivalent of £24, leaving him with £576
net pay.
With double exchange compensation the nominal dollar
salary equivalent to £600 would be a salary of $4000, because
$4000 at 3/- is equivalent to £600. At least from 1908 onwards,
the method of deducting the widows' and orphans' contribution
in the case of nominal dollar salaries was as follows. The con-
tribution of 4% was first taken off the nominal salary, and the
double exchange compensation allowance was then calculated on
the balance. For example, still assuming a current rate of 2/-,
in the case of an officer with a nominal dollar salary of $4000,
the deduction would be $160, the balance would be $3840, double
exchange compensation on this would be $1920, and the net pay
drawn by the officer would be $5760. $5760 at 2/-, the assumed
current rate, is equivalent to £576, which is exactly the same
as the £576 net pay drawn by the sterling officer on a salary of
£600. Both would of course actually be paid in current 2/-
dollars, the assumed current rate throughout the year, and both
would receive exactly the same number of current dollars, 1.0.
$5760. Accordingly, the sterling value of the contribution of
both officers, and the sterling value of the gain to the fund
before the 31st December 1908, and sterling value of the saving
by revenue after the 30th December 1908, were exactly the same
respectively. There is therefore no justification for treating
the so-called "dollar" widows' pensions in any different way from
"sterling" widows' pensions. The "dollar" widows' pensions are
pensions in which, because of the sterling value of the contri-
butions, each dollar is worth 3/-. Anyone unacquainted with
double exchange compensation might easily miss this essential
fact, though we would point out that, as we believe, when the