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their status to that of a sub-inspector or inspector,
and the duties to which they are assigned depend
wholly on their own abilities to carry out the duties
of a sub-inspector or inspector".
The proposed reply would appear to be
equitable and just having regard to the fact that to
give preferential treatment to the Home recruited
officer would undoubtedly leave other members of the
force with further grievances and would react against
the efficiency of the force as a whole.
Point 3. The contention of the petitioners
that their full previous police service had not been
taken into account when assessing the point of entry
into the Hong Kong salary scale is dealt with by the
Governor in paragraph 6 of the despatch.
The suggestion by the Commissioner of Police
that a fair method of calculating the initial salary
would be to count half of the previous approved
service as a basis for assessment, has been
considered by the Governor and his final recommendation
is shown in the latest telegram which suggests that
the reply on this point should be "it is not
considered that a ease has been made out for departing
from the approved method of calculation which was
used in the assessment of initial salaries of those
officers and accepted by them on appointment".
This decision seems to be just and
reasonable having regard to the fact that any
re-adjustment of salaries of one particular group of
the Force would almost certainly cause anomalies
which in turn would provide material for grievances
by another group. It is possible that the Salaries
Commission report which recommends an alteration in
the scale, in an upward tendency, will go some way
towards