TABLIC
RECORD
OFFICE
༅། ། ། ། །
Reference :-
C.O.882/12
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE ar REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-|
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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3. One difficulty which occurs in connexion with the proposed cuts" is that while certain officers are to be exempted from them in view of the increased responsibility which devolves upon them under the proposed scheme of reorganization, the cuts will take place before the reorganization, and there will be an in- terval in which the argument as to increased responsibilities will be inapplicable. Moreover, if the cut in salaries is to take place as proposed by the Commission from 1st January, 1932, the re- organization proposals will not then be before the public and the reasons for the discrimination will not be fully apparent. There appear to be two alternatives for dealing with this difficulty, viz., that the cuts for the current year should be applicable to all with- out discrimination and pending reorganization, or that they should be postponed until the publication of the Commission's report. In view of the critical nature of the situation I am inclined to suggest the former alternative, the cuts being imposed as a tem- porary measure pending reorganization. The cut should not, how- reduce any office below the Herchenroder scale and for reasons which will be given later should not apply to the Police. It would be necessary to justify the latter course by the immediate transfer to the Police of additional functions and abolition of a number of Revenue Inspectors and Guards.
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4. I may take the opportunity of referring here to the recoin- mendation of the Commission that the cut should not apply to the Governor's salary. However justifiable this may be on logical grounds it is not £ position which I can equanimity. If the officers under my control are to be sub- accept with jected to this sacrifice I most strongly urge that I should be per- mitted to share it. I do not suggest the permanent reduction of the Governor's salary below the level at which it has recently been fixed, but as a temporary measure during the present diffi- culties, I request your permission to accept a 10 per cent. reduc- tion in pay.
This reduction should not affect the allowance payable to the Officer Administrating the Government during the Governor's absence on full pay, which should remain Rs.10,000. I may observe here that in my opinion the cut in salary in respect to serving officers should in all cases be regarded as a temporary measure: though this would not of course apply to new appointments or promotions, which should be on the salary approved under the scheme of reorganization.
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5. I have considerable doubt as to the advisability or equity of the cut of 5 per cent. in pensions proposed by the Commission. Pensions are on a different footing from salary for several reasons. The ratio of pensions to pay is fixed by a permanent law and is more or less uniform throughout the Colonies, whereas salaries are dependent on an annual vote and vary considerably from time to time according to circumstances. In many cases pensions now
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being paid have been calculated on salaries at pre-war rates and though these have been augmented by 30 per cent. they are still usually not equivalent to the rates which would have been payable on the present salaries of the offices in respect to which they were awarded. The officers concerned have also in many instances no further connexion with the Colony. It may be regarded as fair that officers actually serving in the Colony should be called upon to share its fortunes and submit to any sacrifice which this involves, but it is somewhat hard that their fortunes should continue to be linked with those of a particular colony and subject to variations in its conditions long after active connexion with the Colony may have ceased. Moreover the reductions would affect a number of officers who may be retired under the reorganization scheme long before reaching pensionable age and on pensions which will be, in any case, much smaller than those to which they might reasonably have looked forward. An additional cut of 5 per cent. in these meagre allowances would bear very hardly on those officers. It is impossible to secure complete equality of sacrifice, but on the whole it appears to me more equitable that reductions should apply only to serving officers. The inequalities involved in a reduction of pensions are so considerable that they would be almost impossible io counterbalance. Moreover, though it may not be strictly logical to reduce salaries and leave pensions untouched, I believe that in the circumstances it would be generally accepted as the fair course. The loss of Rs.60,000 in savings which this course would involve is considerable, but not I think a sufficient consideration to out- weigh the objections urged on general grounds.
6. Turning to the proposals affecting particular departments I will take first the case of the Secretariat which is affected by the scheme for abolition of the Receiver-General's department. I have already expressed the view that I do not think the full amalgama- tion of the Accounting branches of the Treasury with the Colonial Secretary's department will be practicable during the period of re- organization and I have considerable doubts as to its ultimate feasibility. The Commissioners in the notes with which they furnished me have commented on the fact that criticism and com- ment by the Colonial Secretary on matters passing through his hands are already confined largely to their financial aspects and that the Receiver-General has been excluded to a large extent from consultation on the general features of the Estimates and the financial side of the larger questions. The working of both Secretariat and Treasury is bound to be affected by the personal characteristics of their respective Heads and I am unable to escape the conclusion that the Commissioners may have been to some extent misled by a state of things which has arisen from personal causes and should not be regarded as normal and desirable. There are considerable delays experienced in the Secretariat as it is, and I feel sure that too early an attempt to amalgamate the financial
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