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CHAPTER V.
POINTS OF IMPORTANCE IN REGARD TO CERTAIN
MAJOR DEPARTMENTS AND SERVICES.
Government House.
71.
We recommend that the Entertainment Allowance drawn by His Excellency the Governor should be increased from £2200 to £2500 and that His Excellency the Governor should be exempted from payment of excise duty.
72.
The salaries recommended for the Private Secretary and the Aide-de-Camp have not been increased to the same extent as those for other officers, since we recommend that no charge should be made to these officers in respect of their quarters. We have proposed special salaries for the No. 1 and No. 2 Chauffeurs at Government House and suggest that in view of these rates of pay these officers should not be eligible for overtime.
Colonial Secretariat.
73.
We recommend the abolition of the non-pensionable duty allowance of £150 per annum at present paid to the Colonial Secretary in whose basic salary we have incorporated a compensatory increase, and that expenses incurred in the entertainment of official visitors, should be chargeable to the central official entertainment vote referred to in paragraph 53.
740
We consider that the Head Attendant at the Secretariat should be on the samo scale of pay as a grade III foreman. For the Head Messenger we recommend the pay of the semi-skilled grade.
Administrative Service,
75.
We recommend that the period of probation for Cadet Officers in future be increased from two years to three, in order that thero may be an opportunity of assessing the suitability of a Cadet Officer on probation not only during his first two years after appointment when ho is studying Cantonese, but also during the succeeding
The salary year when he commences work in the Colony. scale we have proposed contemplates the abolition of the present privilege of free quarters during the period of language study but if it is not possible for suitable accommodation to be obtained in Canton for one sixth of the proposed basic salaries, we suggest that a temporary allowance might be granted.
It appears to us that the proportion of time scale to superscale posts for Cadet Officers is unduly low as compared with that in other Colonies such as Malaya and we suggest that the question of increasing the number of Class I appointments might be considered.
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