27
conventional rate of 112 Rupees to Hong Kong $100 was fixed.
10. It has to be observed that the principle of compen-
sation for an adverse rate of exchange has, in the case of
Indian Officers, been applied only in relation to pensions and
that they receive no safeguard in any other cases in which
hardship ensues from unfavourable rates, which occur when Indian
Officers are on leave in India or are committed to regular
remittances to dependents in the currency of the country of
their domicile.
11.
Whilst it is intended in due course to show that
there are strong grounds for review of the whole question of
exchange compensation for India-domiciled Officers, it is
earnestly and respectfully submitted that the conditions now
prevailing do not justify the withdrawal of the privilege of
exchange compensation in the solitary instance in which Indian
Officers now benefit.
12. The relative position of the dollar in relation to
the Rupee at the time when the principle of exchange compensation
was first applied to Indian Officers on pension, namely in 1930,
happens to be practically the same as it is at the present day,
that is to say in the neighbourhood of 82 Rupees to Hong Kong
$100.
13. Whereas however in 1930 there was no limit to any
upward trend in the value of the dollar which might result in
the minimum conventional rate being exceeded, the present policy
of the Government of Hong Kong to control the exchange value of
the dollar, precludes such possibility, and the Indian pensioners
cannot under prevailing conditions hope to receive more than
the minimum conventional rate.
14.
In the case of European Officers who are paid on a
sterling basis, the principle of exchange compensation is
- 3 -