PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O.885
21 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
6
from the temporary employer: but in cases of long periods of absence it is not fair to usk the lending Colony to go on taking responsibility for pension; and it is wiser that a special arrangement should always he made for relieving the lending Colony in such cases that being so, there is no particular value in a limitation to one year.
The effect of the regulation as drafted will be to empower a Colonial Government, with the Secretary of State's approval, to give leave on grounds of public policy for any period which may be found necessary.
36. Regulation 6. This regulation is a new one, which has been drafted to deal with cases of naval and military officers employed in the Colonies. In connection with it the Committee wish to refer to paragraph 64 of the Report of the Interdepart- mental Pensions Committee of 1908, which is as follows:
"We have considered whether the existing practice shonld not be altered so as to allow such persons to count for civil pension any part of the period of their civil employment during which they are on the active list but which does not eventually earn retired pay or gratuity or carry any increased rate of retired pay or gratuity; but we have decided to confine ourselves to a statement of the arguments for and against such a change without making any express recom- mendation on the subject, which, we understand, is a matter of considerable importance as regards the home service, and may be considered to be beyond the scope of the Committee, on which the War Office is not represented."
Many cases have arisen in the past where it has been hard upon a military officer to receive no pension at all in respect of a period of service which he gave to a Colony or Protectorate while he was still nominally on the active list of the Army. It is not proposed to enable an officer to earn double pension in respect of the same period of service, but to meet those cases where it seems only equitable to grant a civil pension for service in respect of which an officer has not actually been awarded a pension from Army funds. The regulation has been so drafted as to require the special approval of the Secretary of State in each case.
37. Regulation 7. The regulation is amplified so as to cover an increasing number of difficulties arising from the prevalence of incremental scales, since under the existing regulation the average salary of an officer who has been transferred from one office to another within three years of his retirement may be lower than the final salary he would have received in the first office if he had not been transferred, so that his pension is actually diminished by the transfer.
38. Regulation S. This regulation is reduced to a simpler form than that which it took in the old regulations.
The Committee cannot find any valid reason for placing a limit of two-thirds upon service paid for out of what is described as an
open vote regulations.
in some existing
"
After full consideration they recommend the regulation as now drafted; it gives power to take into account, with the approval of the Secretary of State, any period of non- pensionable service which precedes a period of pensionable service.
39. Regulation 9. The regulation as to acting service being allowed to count as service for pension has in most legislation hitherto contained a proviso to the effect that any period of such acting service in a pensionable office as may be allowed to count shall not have been taken into account as part of the service of the previous holder of the office. The Committee have formed the opinion that this restriction may be omitted. principle of the existing rule would doubtless be followed in most cases: but occasionally The it may be desirable to count for pension in a particular case some period of service which has already been reckoned in the service of another officer. opinion, undesirable to fetter the Secretary of State's discretion in the matter.
It is, therefore, in their
40. Regulations 10 and 11. The question of un addition for abolition of office is one which demands special attention. The Treasury, of recent years, in compliance with the recommendation of the Royal Commission of 1888 on the Civil Service (Report- paragraphs 107-113) have declined to give any addition of years in respect of abolition of office; and under the Superannuation Act of 1909 no such addition can be given to any person who enters the service after the passing of the Act.
41. The circumstances of the Colonies, however, seem to afford justification for more liberal treatinent in many cases. The Committee recommend that the power of making such additions should be retained, but that for the existing scale of fixed additions after certain periods of service there should be substituted additions proportionate to the length of service, at the rate of one-sixtieth of pensionable emoluments for each complete period of three years of pensionable service, with a maximum of ten-sixtieths.
7
42. Regulation 13. This regulation, dealing with additions to pension in respect of professional qualifications, combines, in a revised form, and with some modifications, principles already embodied in different Colonial laws.
43. Such additions were formerly granted in this country and under the Act of 1859 the Treasury still have power to award them. The Royal Commission on the Civil Service, already referred to, reported against these additions, and since that time the Treasury have scrutinised very carefully any proposal to add to the list of officers to whom they may be granted.
The views stated by the Royal Commission, which have in effect been reaffirmed by the recent Royal Commission on the Civil Service, are as follows :--
"We do not admit the necessity of the provision which enables a higher pension to be given for professional offices by adding a number of years to the actual service years. This was intended to meet the case of men coming into the service at a somewhat advanced age, and with special acquirements. But, in our opinion, such a man is better remunerated by a sufficient salary which, being an immediate charge, is likely to receive greater attention than a prospective addition to pension, and we see no reason why the pension should bear a higher proportion to the salary in these cases than in others."
44. The considerations alluded to by the Royal Commission apply to the Colonial service with the same force as to the Home service, but the Committee doubt whether it would be wise to exclude altogether the power to make some allowance for professional qualifications. There may be times when the Secretary of State considers it essential, especially in the legal or medical branches of the service, to introduce a man who has had some considerable experience in this country, at an age when it would be impossible for him to earn an adequate pension under the ordinary rules.
45. It should be added, however, that in some of the more important Crown Colonies (eg, Ceylon and the Straits Settlements) no addition is now granted except to Judges of the Supreme Court. Moreover, in the Colonies generally the tendency is more and more to select men for service-even candidates with professional qualifications-at such an age that they are almost from the beginning trained in the service itself. On these grounds a minority of the Committee is in favour of omitting all provision for additions in respect of professional qualifications. In that event it would still be possible for the Secretary of State in a special case, on appointing a professional officer at a comparatively advanced age, to arrange with the Colonial Government concerned to promise him a special gratuity (or special addition to pension) on ultimate retirement, apart from the pension grantable under the regulations.
46. The objection felt by this minority of the Committee to the continuance of the practice of granting additions to pension for professional qualifications will, however, be Considerably lessened if the Secretary of State approves the age of 30, which is pro- visionally inserted in line 2 and in proviso (1) of the regulation as printed. Under the existing regulation in force in many Colonies the age is 24, but as this is very little above the age at which the greater number of European, officers now enter the Colonial service, it seems proper to increase it beyond 24. A minority of the Committee think 25 is high enough, but the majority recommend 30. The adoption of 30 would have the effect of considerably reducing the number of officers qualified to receive any addition, and also the amount of the addition grantable in most cases.
47. The regulation as drafted provides for a possible extension of the privilege to certain categories of officers to whom it has not previously been applied. It is not suggested that all these categories should be adopted by every Colonial Government. The question which categories are suitable for adoption by each particular Colony must be settled according to the special circumstances of that Colony.
48. Regulations 14 and 15. These regulations are not a necessary part of the pensions scheme embodied in the Model Ordinance, and, owing to variations in local conditions, they may not be suited for general adoption. It will, therefore, be a matter for consideration in the case of each Colony whether these regulations or a modified form of them should be adopted.
" com-
49. There is nothing similar to these regulations in earlier pension legislation, but a practice had grown up in many Colonies of granting in deserving cases, where men Ind held for many years a non-pensionable appointment, what was called a passionate allowance" at the rate of three-fourths of the pension which would have been granted if the officer had held a pensionable appointment, and since the introduction of revised legislation some ten years ago a regulation, on the lines of Regulation 14, intended to sanction and limit this practice, has become general.
50. Regulation 14 is completely recast, more particularly with the view of inserting a condition which was always supposed to be understood in the previous form of the