Secretariat Reference No. 4001/46.
(Personnel)
Orej.
on C.S.D. papers
SAVINGRAM
To the Secretary of State for the Colonies.
From the Governor, Hong Kong.
RECEIVED
23 Arko
C. O. REGY
Date
15. April,
>!
1948.
No. CONFIDENTIAL.
250
157
I have now completed a detailed examination into the merits and the implications of the recommendation in paragraph 163 of the Salaries Commission report that retire- ment at 45 should be introduced at the option of the Government or of the officer.
2.
As the recommendation, however desirable on other grounds, might have involved an increase in pension commit- ments of an order which this Government would be unable to face, enquiries were first made into the probable cost. I enclose copies of two estimates arrived at independently by arithmetic and algebraic methods respectively. It will be observed that the results tally closely and give the annual estimated additional cost of retirement at 45 as against 55 as follows:-
Administrative
Medical
Educational
Public Works Department
3.
$2030.84
$2896.86
$2248.80
$1799.32.
If this estimate is correct, the additional cost is insignificant and the proposal may therefore be judged on its merits.
Ą.
The ills to which a section of the public service may be heir in its later days has been indicated in Mr. Ormsby Gore's circular despatch of October 3rd, 1936. The loss of energy and adaptability to which that despatch refers has been particularly noticeable in the post-war period in