lina wered
at b6 35.
6
1
assistance is promised for a limited period only should act as an inducement to these officers to find employment for themselves. It is difficult to furnish any reliable estimate of the numbers involved but this category should not exceed 500. The cost of maintenance at CN$600 per head per month for a period of six months would be CN 1,800,000 and it might be necessary to allow 50% of this sum for sickness and other contingencies, thus bringing the total cost to CN 2,700,000 or £35,000.
13.
Category (ii), officers on probation, are men with less than three years service. A junior clerk in this category receives between CN2,000 and CN 3,000. A considerable number of these young men are unmarried and should be more adaptable to conditions in China than the older men with families and I am inclined to recommend the grant of relief only in special cases of hardship.
14. Category (iii) comprises lower paid on the temporary non pensionable establishment drawing in most cases less than HK$40 per month. This class consists of messengers, office coolies, postmen, hospital attendants, seamen, nightsoil and scavenging coolies, foremen, etc., and the numbers amount to several thousand. Over one thousand have already resorted. The question of further assistance for those with exceptionally long service has already been raised in paragraph 9 of this despatch. The majority of these people return to their villages after receiving payment and find less difficulty than clerical workers in finding employment as farm labourers, coolies, etc. As they are now scattered, it is improbable that the Refugee Relief Department will be called upon for further assistance except possibly for those with long service. If it is decided to grant additional compensation to any members of this category, I suggest that once the scale of compensation has been agreed upon, the men concerned should be given a lump sum owing to the practical difficulties of remitting small sums, and that this lump sum should terminate the responsibilities of Government.
50