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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 882
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TÓ BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
6PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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5. I note with satisfaction the careful examination which this question has evi- dently received at the hands of yourself and the Acting Colonial Secretary.
39721
No. 5.
I have, &c.,
J. CHAMBERLAIN.
FEDERATED MALAY STATES.
ACTING HIGH COMMISSIONER SIR J. A. SWETTENHAM to MR. CHAMBERLAIN.
(Confidential.)
(Received December 5, 1900.)
[Answered by Nos, 6 and 12.]
SIR,
Government House, Singapore, November 8, 1900. ADVERTING to my despatch, Straits Settlements, No. 306, of the 27th August 1st, enclosing a proposal for increasing the salaries of the Cadet Service in the Colony, I have the honour to transmit two schemes prepared by the Acting Resident-General for the same purpose in the Federated Malay States. I enclose also correspondence on the subject.
2. If you are prepared to assent to an increase in the salaries paid in the Colony, I think the officers in the Federated Malay States should be awarded equal considera- tion, and for this purpose I bring to your notice Scheme No. 1.
3. That Scheme, in my judgment, requires modification in the following particulars:-
Class I should contain the Secretary for Chinese Affairs, whose salary should be increased part passu with that of the Commissioner of Lands and Mines, and also with that of the Commissioner of Police. I think also that the Senior Magistrate tor Selangor, and the Negri Sembilan (one officer for the two States) should be placed in the first class, and taken out of the second class.
4. If any general increase of pay be given, I think the title of Secretary or Assistant Secretary to Government should be altered to that of Secretary or Assistant Secretary to the Resident. The use of the present title is apt to tempt the Resident to feel that he is not so closely responsible for the civil administration as it is desirable he should feel, and it tends to lead the Secretary and his subordinates to imagine themselves not quite so much under the immediate control of the Resident as they are and ought to be.
5. In Class V. the title of the Indian Immigration Agent should be "for Perak, Selangor, and Negri Sembilan." And I hope that as a Federal Accountant and Auditor has been appointed it may be possible in the near future to conduct the State Audit work by less costly auditors.
6. I have discussed personally at great length with the Acting Resident-General the question whether any class distinction ought to be made in point of pay between Cadets appointed after open competition and officers appointed without that qualifi- cation, and I have come to the conclusion that any attempt to make such a condition would be inexpedient.
7. Sir F. Swettenham has not seen any of these papers.
J. A. SWETTENHAM.
I have, &c.,
Enclosure in No. 5.
HIGH COMMISSIONER to the RESIDENT-GENERAL.
(Confidential 41/00.)
SIR,
High Commissioner's Office, Singapore, August 29, 1900. I HAVE the honour to enclose for your (confidential) information copies of the following papers : -
Telegram from the Secretary of State (decyphered) 20th August, 1900. Telegram to the Secretary of State (decyphered) 21st August, 1900. Governor's despatch, No. 306, of 27th August, 1900, with enclosures,
and to enquire confidentially how you would propose to reclassify the Public Service
• No. 1.
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of the Federated Malay States so as to (i) make a due gradation of the service, (ii) im- prove the prospects of the officers therein, and (iii) keep in line with the present and proposed prospects in the Public Service of the Colony, always bearing in mind that the officers are recruited for the service, not the service for the officers.
2. My difficulty in endorsing the Secretary of State's proposals is this: he does not state whether his proposals are retroactive or not, and it is very important that we should know this.
3. At present your $2,400 class contains at least three distinot kinds of men, viz.:-
(a) Subordinate officers appointed thereto on final promotion after long service,
e.g., Mr. Keyt.
(b) Cadets and other officers appointed without competition.
(c) Competition Wallahs.
4. The Secretary of State's proposal while designed to benefit class (c) as regards future Cadets is silent as to past competition Wallahs, and also as to (a) and (b) and I should like to know definitely how far it is intended to differentiate between (b) and (c) as (c) is the kind of officer on whose behalf these proposals are put forward; it would seem as if it was intended to make some distinction between (c) and the other two kinds of officers.
5.
In your re-classification you might propose to set apart a certain limited number of offices (as is done in this Colony and Ceylon) to which very deserving sub- ordinate officers might look for promotion eventually.
I have, &c.,
The Acting Resident-General,
SIR,
Federated Malay States.
(Confidential 64/1900.)
J. A. SWETTENHAM.
Resident-General's Office, Selangor, September 28, 1900. Re-classification of the Public Service of the Federated Malay States.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of Your Honour's confidential letter, Federated Malay States, 41, of 29th August last, on the subject of the re- classification of the Public Service of the Federated Malay States so as to:-
(1.) Make a due gradation of the Service.
(2.) Improve the prospects of the Officers therein.
(3.) Keep in line with the present and proposed prospects in the Public Service
of the Colony.
2. Being in Perak at the time I received Your Honour's letter, I took advantage of the opportunity to confidentially consult Mr. A. R. Venning, the Secretary to Government, and that Officer, Mr. Marks, Acting Secretary to the Resident-General and I, met and very carefully discussed the subject, having before us Your Honour's letter under reply, with its enclosures (telegram from the Secretary of State, August 20, 1900; your Honour's reply to that telegram, August 21, 1900; Governor's despatch to Secretary of State, No. 306, of 27th August, 1900), Ceylon Sessional Paper, No. XXVII., of 1897 (relating to the re-classification of the Ceylon Civil Service) of which had obtained a copy when acting as Resident-General in 1898, and a copy of the Secretary of State's despatch of 27th December, 1895, published in the "Correspond- ence respecting the Federation of the Protected Malay States," 1896.
3. Subsequently I had several interviews with Mr. Venning, and we gave the subject the fullest consideration. Mr. Venning at my request drew up two schemes, I. and II., and embodied our views in "Notes" (3), and these schemes and notes I now submit for Your Honour's consideration.
I also enclose the following documents:-
A comparative Statement (4), prepared by Mr. Marks, showing the classification
of the Federated Malay States,
(5) As recently approved by Sir Frank Swettenham and Your Honour, that of
the Ceylon Civil Service, and the proposed Straits classification.
The Federated Malay States classification referred to above (5) which is ready
for publication, but which I will now hold back pending the receipt of Your Honour's instructions.
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