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Mr. Wallace
After examining the modified proposals.
for expatriation pay in Malaya and Hong Kong, I
have come to the conclusion that there is no
reason at all why the rates should be precisely the
same in both places.
This would only be justified
if the cost of living and general conditions were
identical and if the scales of salary proposed for
comparable posts were exactly of the same order in both places
Such is of course not the case and there is, therefore,
no reason why expatriation pay in the two places should
be the same.
Moreover, it will be seen that the rates
proposed by Malaya expressed in pounds sterling give
curious odd figures, such as £231, £308, and £336 per
annum. While these figures all convert into an
exact and even number of Straits dollars per month
they do not convert exactly into Hong Kong dollars
per month and in some cases fractions of dollars
would result. This would, of course, make it
impracticable to adopt the Malayan figures exactly
as they are given in the Governor General's telegram
of the 3rd January.
In the above circumstances, I feel that
it would be much preferable to adopt the rates