PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
TILLIC.O. 882
6
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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edit fear fader, when he enters the service, the illusory prospect of a transfer which he has no reasonable elunce of obtaming I have ascertained that the Governors of the Strads Settlements and of Hong Kong and both in agreement with me on this point.
21, Botore leaving the subject of elissativation I wish to suggest the adoption in the Malay Peninsula of two prinences which have already been applied in the case of Ceylon the appantment of supernumerary officers in certain chassis, an I the appointment in Future of officers to classes only and not to specific posts
In a service as large as that of the Malay Peninsula a number of officers must always be on leave in Europe, and a corresponding muumber of officers will therefore be acting me classes superior to their own. Such a state of affairs involves a considerable amount of shifting of officers from one post to another, and I think that there is no doubt that it would be convenient to the Government, as well as being in the interests of the officers of the service, if there were a certain number of supernumeraries avarlan to fill vacancies caused by leave of absence The exact number of super- umerary officers which would be desirable would be -hown by experience, but suggest that the system should now be started on small scale and confined, at first. To the Federated Malay States. N..
officers should be appointed to supermmerary Class 1: the posts in That Class all require special qualifications, and the officer who fill a temporary vacancy in that Class must be specially selected in each case. I would obviously be impossible to find any one officer who would be competent I would to perform the duties of whatever Class I post might happen to be vacant. suggest that in the first instance one supernumerary should be appointed to Class II.
ne or two to Class III, and two to Class IV. i will be unnecessary to appoint. any tra Class V, as the adoption of the system of promoting Passed Cadets to this lass without regard to the existence of vacancies will in any case ensure that there will be a number of redundant officers.
The appointment of supernumeraries involves the adoption of the other principle to which I have referred the appointment of officers to Classes only and not to particular posts- since the number of officers in any class below Class I would always exceed the number of appointments in that Class; but, even apart from the question of appointing supernumeraries, this principle is one which it is very desirable to introduce. The present system of appointing an officer to a specific post results in a state of affairs which at times borders on the ridiculous. For instance, in the distribution list of officers in the Cadet Service in the Federated Malay States, which was published in November, 1910, I find that 14 officers out of 39 in Class V, and 10 out of 24 in Class IV, were acting in posts other than their own, but in the In Class IV only two and in Class V only three officers were performing the duties of their substantive appointments. Moreover, a reference to the Civil Service List will show numerous instances in which officers have nominally held for years appointments which they have never taken up.
same
Classes.
I submit, therefore, that in future the practice of appointing officers to particular posts should be abandoned in all Classes below the First, -(the case of the First Class is different because Class I officers are selected with reference to their qualifi- cations for special appointments), and an officer should he gazetted as being appointed to 2. Class II, and as officiating in such and such a post. The change will also have the advantage of leaving the Government a perfectly free hand to transfer an officer from one station to another without regard to any vested interests which he may consider himself to have acquired,
26. I have not the materials necessary to enable me to give an exact estimate of the cost to the Government which would be caused by the adoption of my proposals, but. assuming that every officer was drawing the maximum salary of his class, the expenditure on personal emoluments would apparently have to be increased by about £15,000 a year in the case of the Federated Malay States and about £5,000 a year in the case of the Straits Settlements. The actual increases would, of course, be smaller than these suns, as all the officers in the service could not possibly be drawing their maximum salaries at the same monent, and there would also be some savings on pensions and some receipts for rent of quarters to be put on the other side of the account, but, in any case, it is obvious that a considerable amount of additional expenditure would be involved. Fortuintely the Federated Malay States are in a position to provide any reasonable sums without difficulty and, though the finances of the Colony are not at the moment in an equally flourishing condition, there should be no real difficulty in finding funds for an object with which the Unofficial Members of the Legislative Council have on several occasions expressed their sympathy.
27. The only questions with which I was specifically instructed to deal were those
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of the rates of salary and of the classification of appointments, but in the course of my discussions with members of the service various other matters have been brought up. some of which may conveniently be dealt with now. The most important of those matters is the question of leave of absence. I have always considered that officers in the Malay Peninsula do not take leave at short enough intervals, and that, when they do take it, they stay in Europe far too long. On the first point I have found that the members of the service are generally in agreement with my view. The second proposition does not meet with such general acceptance, but it appears to me that it is scarcely possible to deny that after an absence of 12 or 15 months an officer must be quite out of touch witli his work, and it is difficult to believe that so long a period of leave is really necessary except in cases of very serious illness. If it were possible to arrange for leave to be taken at shorter intervals and for shorter periods, than at present. I believe that both the Government and the officers concerned would benefit. It seems to be generally agreed that after about four years' continuous residence in the Malay Peninsula most officers cease to be able to do themselves full justice in their work: without being actually ill, they lose energy and "grip" and need a short holiday in a less trying climate to restore their full powers.
28. Some years ago it was proposed that the present leave arrangements should be abolished and that in future officers should be given six months' full pay leave after every three years' service, no other leave being allowed. For various reasons this proposal was dropped, but I think that the time is opportune for reviving it in a modified form. I have tentatively discussed with many members of the service a suggestion that an arrangement should be introduced which would make it possible for an officer to obtain eight months' leave on full pay after four years' service or, if he preferred it, six months after three years' service. I found a considerable difference of opinion on the subject but I think that the majority-including practically all the married men-were in favour of some such scheme, and probably many of those who were inclined to prefer the present arrangements would change their views if the matter were put before them in a more definite shape than it was possible to do in more or less unofficial conversations.
29. I suggest that an arrangement on the following lines would prove satisfactory :-
(I) Two months' full pay vacation leave should be allowed for each year of service.
(II) An officer should be allowed to accumulate this leave up to a maximum of eight months. If an officer desired to take four months' leave after two years' service or six months after three years he should be allowed to do so, provided that it was not inconvenient to the Government, but in ordinary circumstances he would be expected to serve for four years. If the Government should find itself compelled to refuse leave after four years' service-a course which should only be taken in the most exceptional circumstances the officer affected should be granted leave at the earliest opportunity, and should be allowed additional leave proportionate to the time for which his departure had been delayed. It would be necessary to lay down that an officer must give at least six months' notice of his intention to apply for leave at the end of four years, otherwise great inconvenience would be caused by claims being
sent in at the last moment.
(III) Except in the circumstances just referred to, and in the special cases mentioned below, leave should be limited to a maximum of eight months and no half- pay leave should be given. In the special cases, half-pay leave should be allowed to the extent of one month for each year of service plus the additional six months which may now be given on the grounds of ill-health or urgent private affairs. The following grounds, and those only, should be regarded as rendering an officer eligible for half-pay leave :-
(a) Il-health, when a medical board in the Malay Peninsula or one of the medical advisers to the Secretary of State certifies that the grant of additional leave is absolutely necessary.
(b) Private affairs of an exceptionally urgent character. At present the phrase
"urgent private affairs " appears often to be interpreted rather freely.
(c) Study; when an officer has the permission of the Government to undergo a course of study or training which cannot be completed within the ordinary period of leave, c.g. when an officer is reading for the Bar he should be allowed half-pay leave if necessary to enable him to keep a term or to attend an examination.
(d) To suit steamship arrangements; not more than a fortnight should be given
for this purpose.