5.
23
A
19 fails
53832/1/4+
is expended on rehabilitation allowance and 1941 cost of living
allowance paid to 16,000 employees in the lower salary grades.
Examples showing how these allowances operate have been forwarded
to you under cover of my savingram No.44 2525/45) of the 19th
July in response to your telegram No.487. These allowances have
been payable to all non-Europeans at varying rates since shortly
after the Colony was re-occupied. The new cost of living allowance,
which was introduced on the 1st May, is applicable to Europeans
and non-Europeans alike but it is only payable to officials in
receipt of salaries of $210 a month or over, since below that
figure rehabilitation and 1941 cost of living allowance already
represent more than 50% of basic salary. The extra cost of the
new allowance was not therefore excessive, being estimated at
only $3,600,000.
8.
Personal Emoluments have also been swollen by the retention
of certain departments which were established during the Military
period but which do not form part of the normal organisation of a
Colonial Government. These departments are being gradually
reduced in size and it is hoped that some will be abolished at a
comparatively early date. There has also been a good deal of
duplication. A number of officers were engaged on short term
contracts to fill vacancies until the substantive holders were
able to return to duty. In other cases it was necessary to fill
posts substantively while the old holders were still on leave
pending retirement. Moreover, a good deal of the sudden rise in
Personal Emoluments is due to the effect of increments,
officers are now much higher up the incremental scale than they
were in 1941. Normal retirements at the top and new entries at
the bottom normally offset this annual increase but the fact that
new appointments have been made before actual retirement has taken
place has thrown this compensating machinery out of gear.
as
The