414
26
Personal Emoluments.
An additional post under Senior Clerical and Accounting Staff is provided for. It is intended that this officer shall be in charge of the licensing of hawkers; this clerical work is at present done by a Sanitary Inspector whose qualifications render him more suitable for other employment.
The greater part of the Sanitary Inspectorate has been transferred to the Medical Department where it is known as the Health Inspectorate. Those officers who are retained in the Sanitary Department are for the Scavenging and Conservancy Services and for the Slaughterhouses. It is considered that the officer in charge deserves the rank and emoluments of a Chief Inspector (£600 to £700 hy £25 annually) and this new post is provided for accordingly. One of the two posts of Senior Sanitary Inspector (£475 to £575 by £20 annually) is abolished. Inspectorate of the Sanitary Department will then consist of:-
1 Chief Inspector
1 Senior Inspector
6 Sanitary Inspectors
5 Chinese Sanitary Inspectors.
The
One new post of Chief Motor Mechanic on a scale $1,000 to $1,300 by $75 annually is provided for and the number of Motor Mechanics is reduced by one. The new post is to be filled by the present senior Motor Mechanic whose long and efficient service and the increasing number of vehicles under his charge are con- sidered to justify his promotion.
Additional Foremen, Motor Drivers, Sextons, Bargemen, Scavenging Coolies, Latrine Attendants, Coffin Coolies, Lorry Coolies, etc., are provided for in con- nexion with new services and the expansion of existing services. The most important of the new services are (a) the new Chinese Cemetery at Wo Hop Shek, near Fanling, in the New Territories, and the arrangements for the transportation of the dead from the Island of Hong Kong and Kowloon to that Cemetery, and (b) the proposed nightly collection of nightsoil from tenements in the urban area by labour directly employed by the Sanitary Department as an improvement on the present system under which the nightsoil is removed by free-lance coolies employed by the householders. This proposed departmental collection of nightsoil is only the first stage of a scheme which envisages the complete abolition of the present un- healthy system of nightsoil removal and disposal and, the substitution therefor of a modern hygienic one. Although on account of the war the equipment necessary for the complete scheme cannot be obtained the Urban Council has recommended. that departmental collection of nightsoil should be undertaken as early as possible and has suggested that the cost be met by a general increase of one per cent in the rates and not by making a direct charge to the householders concerned. Provision has therefore been made for the emoluments of 2,000 Nightsoil Coolies on the same scale as that of Scavenging Coolies, namely $144 to $192 by $12 triennially, plus rent allowances at $48 each since no departmental quarters will be available for these employees.
HEAD 27A. SECRETARIAT FOR CHINESE AFFAIRS.
Personal Emoluments.
Two additional posts of Press Censor are provided for on account of the additional censorship work arising out of the war.
HEAD 27B. LABOUR OFFICE.
Personal Emoluments.
It is considered that the duties and responsibilities of the Chief Labour Inspector justify an increase in his emoluments. The scale suggested, £600 to £700 by £25 annually, is the same as that of a Chief Inspector of the Sanitary and Health Inspectorates. Provision is also made for an increase of one in the number of Chinese Labour Inspectors while the number of Female Chinese Labour Inspectors is correspondingly reduced.