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2.
absence of facilities for some kind of professional training, not to any lack of candidates with the requisite background, upbringing and general education. In any case the appointment of local candidates to Unified Services will still be subject to your final approval, which will provide further safeguard. It is for later consideration, when the Commission is in existence, whether local appointments to posts heretofore exclusively filled by members of Unified Services may be made without reference to you, provided that the appointments are not to one of the Unified Services but to local Government Service, and provided also that the same standards of qualification are required in all respects as for appointment to the appropriate Unified Service.
6.
J
a
You will observe that Section 6(a) of the draft bill provides for the vacancies which will be the concern of the Commission to be prescribed by regulation. It is proposed that the line shall be drawn to exclude from the Commission's responsibility all appointments of minor staff such as coolies, messengers, etc., artisans and foremen. It is desirable that the Commission should deal with examinations for and appoint- ments to the "White Collar" classes and above. Services such as the General Clerical Service are not confined to one department and it is probable that a standard examination could be held periodically as a result of which clerical posts and those of a similar level could be filled. The Commission would handle examinations for and appointments to technical and assistant technical, professional and administrative and assistant professional posts, and special appointments, subject of course in appropriate cases to the safe- guards mentioned in the preceding paragraph.
7.
Section 6(b) provides for the prescription of the grades or classes of the service, promotions between which will be within the scope of the Commission. Apart from the obvious cases where a promotion is almost equivalent to a new appointment, e.g. when an officer passes from one class of office as defined by General Orders to another, it is difficult to lay down a precise definition. It is proposed wherever possible to encourage the use of departmental promotion boards which would advise the heads of departments in making recommendations. It is most desirable that the Commission should be enabled to exercise a general supervision over the efficiency of the public service and I consider that it should consider all promotions where, for example, technical or professional qualifications or experience are particularly relevant. I prefer, in view of the difficulty in envisaging at this stage all the possible cases in point, to leave precise definition until the Commission is actually in being, when further considera- tions can be given to this question and a regulation drafted.
8.
The draft bill provides that the two members of the Commission shall not be serving officers of this Government or of the Municipality, nor shall they be members of certain bodies which may be or become of a political or quasi-political nature. In accordance with your suggestion no restriction is provided regarding the person appointed as Chairman, and if necessary a serving officer could be appointed. If no suitable retired officer is available the next best choice would be an officer who would hold the post of Chairman as his last appointment prior to retirement.
9.
Provision has been made for the remuneration of the Chairman and Members to be determined by a vote of the Legislative Council, which would normally be taken in connection with the annual estimates.
10.
In Section 12(c) reference is made to assistance being permitted from "other persons or classes of persons". I have considered the possibility of forming a panel from which members of the Commission required to sit at any time might be dramı. I have come to the conclusion that such an arrange- ment would be liable to prejudice the consistency and continuity of the
the Commission's work.
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