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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference:

CO. 882/10

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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efficiency of the Government Service generally, is amply demonstrated in the report of the Commissioners, with whose views on the subject I entirely concur.

3. I desire here to express my indebtedness to the Commissioners for the skill and ability displayed in the report and for the rapidity with which they completed their labours. Their very rapidity, however, led to certain minor difficulties, which only became evident after the report, which had been published on the advice of the Executive Council, had been passed in review by the general public, by the parties affected, and by this Government. The report was received with anything but approval in the Ceylonese Press, which alleged that the lower-paid Government servants had received wholly insufficient relief. At the same time many individual representations were received asking for further increases, and I decided that the most satisfactory course would be to call for criticisms which persons concerned might desire to offer. Many minor points were raised, and I have now caused the report to be carefully reviewed in the light of these representations. In a report covering so much detail it is obvious that many debatable points must arise, but the general conclusion at which I have arrived is that the report is in the main a very fair and reasonable statement of the present needs of the Government services, and that its general recommendations are such as the Government can accept without reserve. There are, however, various points of detail in which this Government would desire to amend the report, but, as the whole report must in due course be laid before the Legislative Council for detailed criticism and inevitable modification, I think it is sufficient for the present merely to state in the annexed memorandum and schedule* the results of my critical examination of the proposals.

4. I now submit the report, subject to my proposed amendments, for your general approval, and seek your authority to lay it before the Legislative Council at the earliest possible date. It will be discussed in Committee of the Council, and your final approval of the details will be sought when the views of the Council are known. Meanwhile, if you approve of the general lines of the amended report I should be glad of your telegraphic authority to proceed in the manner proposed.

5. The cost of the new proposals is estimated at about Rs. 5,500,000 over and above the cost of the temporary increase at present enjoyed by the Government servants.

6. I shall be addressing you very shortly on the whole financial position of the Colony, as soon as the details have been fully worked out. The experience of the last six months has demonstrated beyond question the impossibility of carrying on the Government without an increased revenue if due consideration is to be shown to the pressing needs of the Colony in respect of the maintenance of existing services, of a policy of moderate development, and of the adequate remuneration of Govern- ment servants, and I should have hesitated to press for the immediate adoption of the proposals for increased salaries were I not absolutely convinced of the para- mount necessity for immediate action to relieve the real and acute distress which many public servants are at present suffering.

I have, &c.,

W. H. MANNING,

Governor, &c.

Enclosure in No. 13.

MEMORANDUM ON THE REPORT OF THE SALARIES COMMISSION.

SESSIONAL PAPER XIX or 1921.

Time-Scale Promotion.

I CONCUR in the general principles enunciated under this head and shall watch with care and interest the working of the proposed efficiency bars, the details of which must be considered and settled after the adoption of the general scheme, due regard being had to the particular circumstances of each department, and such examinations or other testa as officers are at present required to pass as a condition of promotion. I would, however, vary the Commission's proposal in paragraph 42 (4) by permitting an aggrieved officer to appeal to Government even on the first occasion that the Head of the Department decides that he is unfit to pass an efficiency bar, without waiting until such order is repeated a second year.

Rent Allowances.

2.

I concur generally with the Salaries Commission's proposals with regard to rent allowances and the increased rent for Government quarters in certain places,

* Schedule not printed.

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but am of opinion that it will be necessary to fix a maximum for the rent allowance of the higher-paid officers in various grades. the percentage proposed by the Salaries Commission being, I think, unduly high. This matter is at present under con- sideration, and detailed proposals will be laid before the Select Committee of the Council.

Leave.

3. I concur in the remarks and recommendations of the Commission under this Head.

Passages.

4. After full and careful consideration of the whole question I have no hesita- tion in endorsing the Commission's recommendations under this head, which I consider fully justified by the circumstances. The proposed limitation of the con- cession to officers domiciled outside Ceylon has given rise, and no doubt will yet give rise, to much controversy, but I am convinced that the Commission has adopted the logical position in limiting the concession to those officers in whose case a periodical visit to their homes outside Ceylon must be admitted to be a necessity, as distin- guished from those to whom a voyage outside Ceylon, however desirable for other reasons, is in the nature of a luxury. The concession being one that entails payment of considerable sums of money out of public funds, I do not feel justified in recom- mending a general extension of it to all officers irrespective of their actual needs, and I trust that officers domiciled in Ceylon, who have certain privileges peculiar to themselves, will not grudge the proposed concession to officers domiciled outside the Island, a concession which would bring them no additional emoluments but only enable them to meet a special liability which does not ordinarily fall on locally domiciled officers.

5. It has been pointed out that the Commission's recommendation in paragraph 51 only mentions officers but not their families, though the evident intention is to allow the concession in respect of families as well, as is already done under the existing concession (vide paragraph 15 of the report). Accordingly I recommend that the words "including their wives and children" be read after the words "public servants in this Colony "in the last sentence of paragraph 51 of the report.

6. There remains the case of officers who, though of local domicile themselves, are married to ladies of European or Australian domicile, or whose children are being educated in Europe, and who therefore look upon their future domicile as outside Ceylon. I do not, however, think that the Commission's proposal need be amended to cover such cases; they must be few in number, and any case deserving exceptional treatment can be treated on its merits.

7. As regards the recommendation in paragraph 53 for grant of free passages to Europe for the purpose of study or obtaining additional qualifications, it has been nointed out that in certain cases it may be desirable that officers should go to non- European countries-e.g., America. Java, the Philippines for these purposes, and I therefore recommend that the limitation "to Europe" be omitted.

Free Holiday Warrants.

8. I endorse the recommendations of the Commission under this head.

Service in Malarial Districts.

9. I endorse the recommendations of the Commission in paragraph 57, although I foresee some difficulty in providing the necessary staff for offices in malarial dia tricts if the officers employed therein are to be allowed special leave on account of malaria up to six weeks in a year in addition to the six weeks' ordinary vacation leave.

10. Various suggestions have been made to afford other relief to officers in malarial stations, but they all involve administrative difficulties and must be con- sidered separately from the present scheme.

Educational Remittances.

11. I concur in the proposal under this head. It has been suggested that the concession be extended to the case of an officer who wishes to have his children educated in a country other than the United Kingdom. i am not prepared to make a general recommendation on this point, but would request authority to deal with special cases on their merits.