473
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference:—
།།།།།།
C.O.882/11
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
A.
Draft regulations applying
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"abolition of office "terms to Order in Council
Pensions.
7. In no case shall a pension granted under these regulations exceed two-thirds of the salary on which the pension is com- puted.
8. No part of a pension granted under these regulations is commutable notwith- standing any option exercised or exercis- able under Section 2A of the Minutes on Pensions.
9. Pensions will be granted under these regulations only in case of faithful and meritorious service. Where the testimony as to good conduct is in any way defective, a deduction will be made from the pension. and where the misconduct of a Public Ser- vant has been of a serious nature, he shall forfeit all claim to a pension under these regulations. If an officer, whose conduct is under official investigation, exercises or has exercised the option of premature retire- ment, the question of 'granting him a pen- sion under these regulations will not arise until the investigation is complete. Whether he shall finally receive a full pension or a reduced pension under these regulations, or a retiring allowance under Section 15 of the Minutes on Pensions, or any award whatever, will be decided by His Excellener the Governor with the approval of the Secretary of State.
C. 73272/30 [No. 10.
SIR,
B.
Draft regulations embodying Mr. Phillip- son's scheme, which retains, and also abolition of provides an alternative to,
office" terms.
No. 5.
44
7. The same as Section 7 opposite.
8. The same as Section 8 opposite.
9. The same as Section 9 opposite
THE SECRETARY OF STATE to THE OFFICER ADMINISTERING THE GOVERNMENT.
(Confidential.)
[Answered by No. 6.]
Downing Street, 2nd March, 1931.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of Sir Herbert Stanley's Con- fidential despatch of the 14th of October* transmitting a copy of a memorandum in which the Treasurer had set out alternative schemes for putting into effect the recom- mendation of the Donoughmore Commission that certain classes of officers should he given the right to retire on proportionate pension, with compensation for loss of career, should they not desire to continue to serve under the altered conditions which result from the introduction of the new Constitution.
2. Of the two schemes, one provides in effect that officers who retire prematurely under the Order in Council shall be awarded pension as though they had been retired under Section 7 of the Pension Minute on abolition of office, but with a slight modifica. tion of the terms of that Section of the Minute in favour of officers who at the time of premature retirement have not completed 10 years' service; the alternative scheme, pre- pared by Mr. Phillipson. was designed to provide for slightly more generous com- pensation for younger officers, in particular those who joined the service young and are between the ages of 35 and 45 at the time of their retirement.
* No. 4.
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3. I share Sir Herbert Stanley's view that the terms proposed by the Civil Service Association in their memorandum which accompanied your Confidential despatch of the 23rd of June. last, should not be accepted; and that the grant of the continuing option is in itself a very substantial concession which cannot be disregarded. I note also that Sir Herbert Stanley, after a careful review of the various proposals and having in mind in particular the present financial circumstances of the Island, formed the considered opinion that the less generous of the two schemes put forward by the Treasurer represents all that the Ceylon Government can afford to offer by way of compensation terms. Nevertheless, I feel that there is considerable force in the view that the ordinary abolition "' terms do not altogether meet the case, especially since they afford comparatively little benefit to the officer with short service. At the same time. I think that it might be possible to devise an alternative arrangement which would not involve undue expense and would not be open to the objection of introducing factors extraneous to the general pension system such as discrimination according to age, which was an important feature of the scheme prepared by Mr. Phillipson.
"
4. Such a scheme might take the form of the grant of pension based on 1/600th part of the officer's salary for each completed month of pensionable service in Ceylon, instead of 1/720th, no addition being made on account of climate. To any such pension there could he added a special compensation for premature retirement, the amount of which would have to be arbitrarily fixed. I do not think that it would be ungenerous if the special compensation were put at 50 per cent., with a limit of 100/600ths, and subject to the overriding limitation of pension to 3rds of the highest pensionable emolu- ments. This would, however, be more expensive than either of the schemes hitherto put forward, and if you consider that financial considerations must prevail (though I should doubt whether so many officers will in fact elect to retire that the extra burden under any arrangements would be likely to prove embarrassing), the compensation could be put at a lower figure, e.g., 33 per cent. with a maximum addition of 72/600ths. This would give the officer a slight advantage over the present
" abolition terms, where the pensionable service was less than 30 years, and this advantage, while not so considerable as to involve much expense, would at any rate be a concession to the feeling of the staff that something over and above the ordinary abolition terms should be allowed.
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5. I agree that, as was recommended in Sir Herbert Stanley's telegram of the 27th of October,† the calculation of any pensions granted to officers on premature retirement should be governed by Section 8 of the Pension Minute.
6. I do not propose that a final reply should be returned to the Association until I have received your comments on the suggestion put forward in this despatch. In
the meantime the Association might be informed that I have received and am considering their memorial of the 12th of November which was enclosed in Sir Herbert Stanley's Confidential despatch of the 15th of November.
C. 83242/31 [No. 7].
No. 6.
I have, &c.,
PASSFIELD.
THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.
(Confidential.)
MY LORD,
(Received 10th June, 1931.)
[Answered by Nos. 7 and 8.]
Queen's Cottage, Nuwara Eliya, 19th May, 1931. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of Your Lordship's Confidential rlespatch of the 2nd of March last, § dealing with various alternative schemes for putting into effect the recommendation of the Donoughmore Commission that certain classes of officers should be allowed the right to retire on proportionate pension with
* C. 73272/30 [No. 4]: not printed.
‡ C. 73272/30 [No. 9]: not printed.
† C. 73272/30 [No. 7]: not printed.
§ No. 5.
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