y
53723/47-48.
HONG KONG SALARIES COMMISSION
22
(156)
(233)
(236)
A
Mr. King.
1. I send under this separate minute for convenience copies of the following telegrams:-
(a) Our telegram No. 1950/47 to Hong Kong
(b) Our telegram No. 350/48 to Hong Kong
(c) Hong Kong telegram No. 317/48.
You have previously received copies of all of these. We discussed (a) and (b) before they were issued and we have also had a word about (c), when we provisionally agreed that we should need very strong grounds if we were not now to accept the proposal of the Sålaries
Commission and the Governor, since both of them re-affirm support of the original recommendation after reconsideration.
·
2. I have discussed with Mr. Mayle, who is not very happy about the proposal and would, I think, like to have C. S. D. 's views.
3. As I understand the Governor's proposal, two classes of officers are likely to receive favourable consideration on the merits of their cases:
(1) Officers who were not on duty in the,
Colony on the 1st January 1947, but who subsequently returned.
(ii)
Officers who were not on duty in the
Colony on the 1st January 1947, but who have been seconded for duty elsewhere, whether or not they subsequently returned (e.g. Mr. Butters, it has already been agreed, I understand, shall be eligible for Salaries Commission terms).
Officers who were not on duty in the Colony on the 1st January 1947 and who do not fall in classes (i) and (ii) above will apparently, under the general recommendation, not be eligible for Salaries Commission terms. I do not think there would be serious difficulty in implementing the recommendation on these lines, though we may think that officers in Class (ii) are rather lucky. I suggest we should reply to Hong Kong telegram No. 317 accepting the original Salaries Commission recommendation.
40 There stil remains some difficulty in the first sentence of the Salaries Commission recommendation (paragraph 196, now 194), which runs as follows:-
"We recommend that retrospective benefits should only be granted to officers who are in the service of the Hong Kong Government at the
date