39
:
:
I should be borne in wind that they
be awarded to them by the Hong Kong Government. So far as those officers recruited from the Metropolitan Police are concerned this benefit has already been secured and the pension position of the se men has been fully explained to them. The reply proposed in paragraph 4(vi) of the despatch says all, I think, that need now be said on this point.
The position of the ex County
and Borough Police officers presents some difficulty however. The
negotiations to which the Governor refers in paragraph 4(vii) of his despatch
have in fact come to nothing since in their letter at (18) the Home Office said that they could not agree to an approach being made to the various police authorities concerned. It must therefore be acc pted that these men cannot be regarded as on secondment from their old County and Borough forces and that any pension rights they had by virtue of service in those forces were forfeited upon their resignation to join the Hong Kong Police. There is no doubt that this will be a bitter pill for these men and they will probably feel themselves to have been less sympathetically treated than their colleagues from the Metropolitan Police.
As is indicated in paragraph 4 of the despatch at (37) on the 1947 file, with which the Governor forwarded an earlier police petition, there is a certain justification for the grievance which these men feel in this matter. I think therefore that before we can decide what should be said in reply to this point in the present petition, we must ask the Governor whether, in the interests of the morale and general contentment of the Police Force, he is prepared
world have received to consider making some concession to
a refund dois pard
Contribu
JAP
these men whereby the Hong Kong Government would assume responsibility for at least a proportion of the pensionable police service in the United Kingdom which it is now clear they forfeited upon resigning to join the Hong Kong Force. I have drafted a telegram to Hong Kong raising this question and seeking their suggestions as to the reply which should now be made to the petitioners' representations on this point in the petition.
(f)