REPORT.
xxiii
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O.885
19 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NUT TU|
Paragraph
27.
Paras.
23 & 62.
Paru. 26.
Para. 35,
Para. 5
Paras. 39 & 4ti.
Parn. 4.
Para. 46.
Para. 46.
Para -16.
xxii
CROWN AGENTS' ENQUIRY COMMITTEE:
PART III.
SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS.
98. In the preceding sections of this report, the Committee have embodied the conclusions at which they have arrived. They now present a brief summary of these conclusions and of the recommendations which they have the honour to make.
(1) The Committee consider that the Crown Agents are officers of the Crown, and more particularly officers of the Crown Colony Governments, and as such are bound to carry out the instructions of the Colonial Governments and of the Secretary of State for the Colonies. They hold office during the pleasure of the Crown, and should be regarded as subject to the ordinary Home Civil Service rules relating to retirement and pension. Their salaries should be reviewed from time to time by the Secretary of State when new appointments have to be made.
(2) They consider that the Crown Agents' Office is not in any sense a private firm, but a Government Department, and should be organised on the lines of a Depart- ment of the Home Civil Service, with definite scales of salaries based upon those in force in the Home Civil Service, and that the expenditure on establishments, etc., should be subject to the control of the Secretary of State, just as the similar expendi- ture of a Department of the Home Civil Service is subject to the control of the Treasury.
(3) They consider that the position of the Secretary to the Crown Agents can be better determined at a future date when the new organisation which they recommend has made its result felt.
(4) They recommend that the principle of open competitive examination by the Civil Service Commissioners for first appointment should in future be applied to the whole of the clerical staff, which should be recruited from four sources (a) the examination for Junior Appointments; (b) the examination for Abstractors; (c) the G.P.O. examination for women clerks, and (d) the grade of Boy Clerks.
(5) A new class of established clerks should be created-Class V.-to be recruited from the Abstractors' examination. The existing Class IV. Clerks should be established, and the class should be retained as an intermediate class in future to be filled by promotion strictly according to merit from Class V. The numbers of Class IV. should be gradually reduced until its numbers are approximately one-half of the numbers of Class V. Members of Class IV. should be eligible for promotion to not more than half the posts in Class III., and thence, if qualified, to the higher grades.
(6) Not less than half the vacancies in Class III. should be filled by the open competitive examination for Junior Appointments in the Civil Service. From the candidates so obtained most of the appointments in the higher grades would naturally be filled. As economies were effected by the substitution of Class V. for Class IV. Clerks, a slight increase might be made in the number of Class III. posts.
(7) The salaries of the clerical officers should be as follows:-
Heads of Departments (Class I.).—£550, rising by annual increments of £20 to £700 a year-the Chief Clerk to receive an additional £150 a year in that capacity.
Deputy Heads (Class II.).—£350, rising by annual increments of £15 to £500 a
year. Section Heads (Class III.).—£100, rising after two years' probation to £120, and thence by £10 a year to £200. Then, after a special certificate of efficiency, the salary should rise by annual increments of £15 to £350. Supplementary Clerks (Class IV.).—£70, rising by annual increments of £7 10s. to £100, and thence by increments of £10 to £180. Then, after a special certificate of efficiency, the salary should continue to rise by £10 a year to u maximum of £250.
Abstractors should be paid at the ordinary Civil Service rates for Abstractors. (8) Boy Clerks will be temporarily engaged on the usual Civil Service terms as
Second Division Clerks in a temporary capacity in order to meet a special pressure of work.
(9) The Technical Staff, which, in the opinion of the Committee might be recruited Para. 46. by competitive examination, should be graded separately from the clerical staff. The Aalaries which the Committee recommend as suitable for the Technical staff are as follows:--
Heads-£600, by £25 annually to £800.
Deputy Heads-£400, by £15 annually to £550.
Engineering Assistants-£250, by £10 annually to £400.
Officers of the technical staff should be subject to ordinary Civil Service conditions
as regards pensions, and should not be allowed to reckon additional years for professional qualifications.
(10) The following scale of salaries is suggested for Lady Clerks, in the case of Para. 46. future appointments:-
-
Heads-£200, by annual increments of £10 to £240.
Deputy Heads-£150, by annual increments of £10 to £190.
Clerks-£65, by annual increments of £5 to £140, with an efficiency bar at £110.
(11) Overtime, sick leave, and vacations should be as far as possible in accordance Para. 47. with the regulations for similar classes in the Home Civil Service.
(12) The Committee recommend that members of the staff, like the Crown Agents Para. 25. themselves, should not be allowed to hold directorships of companies.
(13) The Committee recommend that the grant to members of the Crown Agents' Paras. Office of pensions, gratuities, and marriage bonuses should be strictly in accordance 62 & 63. with the rules which govern such grants in the Home Civil Service, and that all pensions should be at the rate of one-sixtieth of the retiring salary for every com- pleted year of service.
(14) They recommend that the pension rights of officers transferred to or from Para. 64. the Crown Agents' Office should be safeguarded by the recognition by the Treasury of the Office Fund and the Reserve Fund as Public Funds under the rules accom- panying the Superannuation Act of 1892.
(15) They recommend that payments made by the Inland Revenue Department Parą. 66. for the collection of Income Tax by the Office should in future be credited to the Office Fund and not divided among the staff, and that present recipients of the poundage should be compensated by the grant of temporary allowances.
(16) They consider that the Insurance Scheme introduced in 1895 is unduly Para. 69. generous to the members of the staff at the expense of the Colonial Governments. They recommend that it should be abolished so far as those not already contributors to it are concerned, and that a new scheme on a less ambitious scale should be prepared.
(17) The Committee, having considered the origin and history of the Reserve Para. 73. Fund, are of opinion that it is clearly a public fund under the absolute control of the Secretary of State for the Colonics. They consider that its amount is already Paras. sufficient to meet any possible calls upon it; and they recommend that the income 70 & 80. arising from it should be credited to the Office Fund. They further recommend that equilibrium between the revenue and the expenditure of the Office Fund should as far as possible be maintained, and they suggest that the charges based on loan work be revised so as to facilitate this.
52 & 53.
(18) The Committee approve the policy of carrying out as much of the inspection l'aras. work as possible by the Office staff, subject to efficient supervision from Headquarters; and they recommend that, if the Office Fund is to be regarded as liable to make good to a Colonial Government losses sustained by faulty inspection of purchases by the Crown Agents, it should be so regarded whether the inspection is performed by inspectors belonging to the Department or not.
(19) The Committee recommend that the shipping work hitherto performed for the Paras.87-93, Crown Agents by Messrs. J. & A. B. Freeland, should in future be carried out by a Department of the Crown Agents, reasonable regard being had to existing interests.
(20) The Committee desire to invite attention to the question whether arrange- ments could not advantageously be made in the future for a Crown Agency warehouse, and if such a warehouse is established, whether the packing work at present performed for the Crown Agents by an outside firm of packers could not be carried
out in such warehouse.
Para, 95,
(21) The Committee recommend that when in a Colony firms exist able to produce Para. 13. articles required, or to carry out works needed by the Colonial Government, and arrangements can be made for adequate local inspection, such firms should be given opportunities of tendering on the same conditions as firms in this country.
(22) The Committee suggest that a small bureau should be established in the Para. 97.
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