PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
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C.O.88
18 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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earned under the Act of 1872. This leads, us already mentioned, to the re-appointment of Governors until they are 60 of in cases
years age when their further employment is not altogether desirable on public grounds. If the Governor has previously been employed in a permanent Civil Service, the difficulty is to some extent met by the provision in Section 10 of the Act of 1865, which allows a Governor who has not become entitled to a Governor's pension to draw at any age a pension of one-sixtieth, or in the case of service in unhealthy climates one-fortieth, of the salary of his last office in the permanent Civil Service for each year of his service as a Governor. If the salary of that office is large, the amount of such pension is not much less than the Governor's pension; but, if the salary is small, the difference is considerable. It sometimes involves an elaborate calculation to ascertain whether it would be more advantageous to wait until 60 for a Governor's pension or to draw at once a pension under Section 10 of the Act of
1865.
(e) Civil Servants not Qualified by Service as Governor for Governor's Pension.
25. In the letter from the Colonial Office to the Treasury of the 23rd September, 1897 (17470/97), in the case of Sir G. Carter, it was submitted that the 12th section of the Super- annuation Act, 1859, contemplates officers transferred to Governorships and Lieutenant- Governorships of Colonies conferred for a limited period being granted, irrespective of age or health, on the expiration of such term of service with- out a renewal of public employment the same rate of superannuation allowance as if they ha continued to hold the appointments in the Per- manent Civil Service from which they were transferred to the Governorship of a Colony." It was also pointed out that the 10th section of the Colonial Governors' (Pensions) Act, 1865, recognises the principle that all service as a Colonial Governor, however short and from whatever source it may be paid,_ qualifies for pension from Imperial Funds. The Treasury did not take any exception to this view, and Sir G. Carter, who was 49 years of age, was granted a pension accordingly. It is understood, however, that some doubt is entertained as to the proper interpretation of the provisions in question, and it is suggested that advantage should be taken of the present opportunity to amend them so as to make the meaning quite clear.
(f) Civil Servants Qualified for Governors' Pension by Service as Governor only.
20. Section 7 of the Pensions (Colonial Service) Act, 1887, enacts that a person shall
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not receive a pension under the Colonial Governors' (Pensions) Acts and also under section 12 of the Superannuation Act, 1859. Consequently, an Imperial Civil Servant who has served long enough as a Governor to earn a Governor's pension cannot receive any addi- tional pension in respect of his civil service even if the total pension from both sources does not exceed £1,000.
This was considered a hardship in Sir W. Robinson's case, as to which see the note appended to this memorandum.
(g) Naval and Military Officers,
27. Naval and Military officers stand in a lifferent position from permanent Civil Servants, both as regards pensions generally and as re- gards Governors' pensions. They are qualified for pension in respect of their military service at a much earlier age than a Civil Servant is qualified for a Civil Service pension; and they have usually taken, or are in a position to claim,
a pension or half-pay before they are made Governors. Any pension granted to them under the Governors' Pensions Acts, is, however, liable to reduction by half the amount of any inilitary or naval "half-pay, salary, or other emolument"; and they cannot receive anything at all in the way of pension in respect of service as a Governor unless they have served as a Governor the full time (18 years for the full rate and 12 years for the reduced rate) required to qualify for a Governor's pension. On the other hand, a military officer can count the same ser- vice, both towards a Governor's pension and also for promotion in the Army and increased non- effective pay (see the case of General Sir R. Biddulph); for in Section 5 of the Superannua tion Act, 1887 (which prohibits the same period being counted for Superannuation Allowances under the Acts of 1834, 1859, and that Act, and also for naval or military non-effective pay) no reference is made to pensions under the Go- vernors' Pensions Acts. This would seem to have been an oversight, and it is desirable both that this oversight should be corrected and also that naval and military officers employed as Governors should, like Civil Servants, be enabled to earn some additional pension in respect of their service as Governors when they do not complete the full time required to qualify for a Governor's pension. An exception might, however, be made in the case of the Military Governors of Gibraltar, Malta, and Bermuda. Except in very rare cases, like that of Sir Robert Biddulph, who has qualified for a Governor's pension through having been High Cominis- sioner of Cyprus as well as Governor of Gib- raltar, these Governors do not qualify for pension
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under the Governors' Pensions Acts, but they are usually entitled to ample pensions in respect oftheir service in the Army.
28. Some notes are appended with regard to the cases of Sir Augustus W. L. Hemming, Colonel E. J. E. Swayne, Sir William Robinson, Sir William MacGregor, Sir Gilbert T. Carter, and General Sir Robert Biddulph.
Colonial Office,
19th November, 1906,