98.
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We recommend a three years' probation period for assistant superintendents who should be required to obtain an adequate knowledge of Cantonese before confirmation in the permanent establishment. We have placed the initial point of entry of an assistant superintendent of Prisons into the professional officers scale considerably higher than in the case of an assistant superintendent of Police in view of the later age at which the former is normally recruited. We recommend a through scale for both assistant superintendents and superintendents with an efficiency bar between $15600 per annum and $16320 per annum.
99.
We have recommended increased scales for the female staff of the Prison and are of the opinion that future candidates should be required to have the Hong Kong School Leaving Certificate before appointment by selection.
100.
We recommend that male and female probation officers should be paid at the same rates as uncertifi- cated teachers and that on obtaining a diploma in social science they should be placed on the same scale as certificated teachers. We propose for the trade instructors in the Prison and in the Reformatory the same scale as for a grade II foreman until they acquire the same qualifications as instructors at the Trade School; if they possess or obtain these qualifications they should be allowed to proceed up the scale to $5100 per annum.
Fire Brigade.
101.
We recommend that firemen, foremen and head foremen in the Fire Brigade should be given similar rates of pay to constables, corporals and sergeants in the Police Force. We propose that fire engine and ambulance drivers, motor mechanics, fitters and floating deck staff should be trained as firemen and given the same pay as firemen. We recommend that ambulance motor mechanics, and fitters should be granted non-pensionable technician pay at the rate of $15 per month and fire engine drivers who are certified competent to handle heavy appliances should receive non-pensionable technician pay at the rate of $20 per month. We consider that fire engine drivers in the Air Services Department should also receive technician pay at the latter rate.
102.
We understand that the responsibilities of telephone clerks and senior telephone clerks in the Fire Brigade are greater than those of telephone clerks in other departments. We consider that they should be renamed watchkeepers grades I and II and have recommend ed appropriate salary scales.
103.
The initial salary proposed for sub-officers is the same as that for Police ub-inspectors grade II but in view of the longer training and experience required before a sub-officer is qualified to be in charge of a station, we have proposed a longer scale rising from $3000 per annum by varying increments to $6000 per annum. We have recommended a higher entry point into the technical officers' scale for station officers than for Police sub-inspectors grade I, since we consider that higher qualifications and longer experience are required. We have raised the grading of the Chief Officer of the Fire Brigade
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