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the amount which will actually be spent for this purpose during the present year. $64,162,521 is undoubtedly a very large proportion of the total expenditure of the Colony, and over 60% of this total is cxpended on the wages of minor staff.
It is generally agreed that the Public Scrvice has, since the reoccupation, boon much underpaid. A now scale of salarios has been introduced which, it is hoped, will result in a morc satisficd staff. The next stop is to rovicw dcpartmental cstablishments with a viow to cutting down this large Personal Emoluments Bill for, under the rovisod conditions, the Government can no longer afford to pay onc morc cmployce than is strictly necessary. In recommending the now scale of salaries, the Salarics Commission cxprossed the view that Government should satisfy itself and the pcoplc generally by cnquiry through a committee, or by using the scrvices of a special officer, that the Public Services are not over-staffcd nor the asylum of incfficient officers. There has not yet been time to give offcct to this rc comme nda- tion, but this Government has boon endeavouring for somc time to scoure the scrvices of an officicncy cxport, and those offorts at last appear to bc bearing fruit. The Government is very concerned at the proscnt cost of Personal Emoluments and it is hoped that, with the arrival of the cfficiency cxpcrt, it will be possible to undertako a detailed review of departmental staffs.
But Personal Emoluments is not the only mattor which is causing the Government concern. As has already been oxplained, a balanced budget has only bccn achieved by utilising arrcars of carnings and profits tax which, under normal conditions, would have been collected during the present year. This is an unsatisfactory position and it is aboar that, before next year's budget is prepared, there must cither be a considerable reduction in expenditure and not in Personal Emoluments only or there must be an incrcasc in rovonuc by means of additional taxation.
Of
The temporary departments, such as the Custodian of Property and the Department of Supplies, Trade and Industry, which do not normally form part of the Colonial Government machinc, arc not running down as rapidly as was hoped. the former, however, only a comparatively small organisation now remains, but SCAP's insistence that Japanese trade should bc conducted on a Government to Government basis has provented much progress being made in reducing the staff of the latter department. The work of many of the permanent Government departments is still greatly in excess of that for which the pro-war establishments were designed but particular carc has been taken to ensure that no additions are made to the pensionable staff until it is possible to draw up a rovised list of ponsionable offices. Block votos for tomporary staff aro still being provided, but in order to ensure full financial control, cvory employoc paid from those votos is listed in footnotes under cach departmental head.
Other Charges total $91,599,926 compared with a figure of $87,289,625 in 1947/48 and, in both casos, those figures include cost of living allowances. It has boon nccessary to make provision during the coming year for a comparatively large expenditure of 89,628,500 undor Public Works Extraordinary, together with $6,714,060 Special Expenditure. Itoms included under Public Works Extraordinary arc all now works and not replacements. It would not bo appropriate, therefore, to finance them from loan funds.