No.57
Sir,
Enclo.No.1.
Fnclo.No.2.
Ha
537366
37
GOVERNMENT HOUSE,
Hong Kong.
6th August, 1946.
I have the honour to forward, for your consideration, a revised text of the section of General Orders of the Hong Kong Government which relates to Government Quarters and to rent allowance in lieu of Quarters. The amendments which have been considered necessary are set out in the attached schedule. They are designed to meet the increased costs of housing and to remedy obvious defects in the General Orders.
2.
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The scale of rent allowance now in force has apparently not been revised since 1929. Even before the European war broke out,it was recognised that the rate had become inadequate and there was a strong feeling in the service that the position should be reviewed. The rates now proposed represent an increase of $40 to $50 a month in the case of officers recruited overseas. should enable such officers to secure suitable accommodation but the rates are by no means over-generous as a three-roomed flat with
300 a month. It is garage in a good locality costs between $250 proposed that the new rent allowances should be payable with effect from the 1st May, the date on which Civil Government was restored.
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This
3.
The basis on which these allowances were calculated was very unsatisfactory and the principle has now been recognised that an officer domiciled outside the Colony, who has dependants, should be granted a rent allowance large enough to enable him to maintain a home in the Colony for his dependants throughout his tour of duty, even though they may not be in the Colony for the whole period.
40
Rent allowances for locally domiciled officers have been increased in roughly the same proportion as those payable to officers recruited from overseas. The allowances for locally domiciled officers have not for some considerable period of time borne any relation to the actual cost of accommodation and at the increased rates now proposed, they will still be considerably below ruling market rates. If the scale for European officers is increased, similar treatment must be accorded to officers locally domiciled, but I do not consider that it is necessary at the moment to do more than grant a proportionate increase. Locally domiciled officers in the majority of Colonial Dependencies are not given such allowances, and I feel that the correct course will ultimately be to abolish them in Hong Kong, ensuring instead that when salaries are revised they are adequate to meet the reasonable commitments of this class of officer including rent payments.
5.
Indeed, it would appear from the White Paper which has recently been issued regarding the re-organisation of the Colonial Service that the future policy is to discontinue the grant of free
RECEIVED
21 AUG 1946
C. O, REGY