CO882-6 — Page 351

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

TLC.O. 882

6 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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increments proposed are adequate, and I cannot see that the special treatment which you accorded to special circumstances would be a valid argument against the intro- duction of a sterling scheme, which would always give an increased salary to the promoted officer, though it might not give exactly every privilege which was enjoyed by his predecessor. In any case the sterling scheme offers the unqualified advantage of periodical increments. On the other hand it is certainly questionable whether it would be fair to the Government to allow officers to choose the sterling scheme or to decline it, because the recent grant of double compensation made the old system of payment in dollars more attractive. I am anxious that it should be clearly understood that what I have recommended for your sanction in my despatch, No. 27, of the 20th instant, is the classification, sterling salaries and periodical increments there enclosed, while the dollar figures are entered, as I found them, for purposes of comparison only. The scheme has been framed after much consideration and consultation with others, but if sterling rates are to be introduced, and those I have proposed are insufficient, it would be better to raise them than to render the scheme abortive, as might easily prove to be the case, if by far the majority of appointments were for many years to remain on a dollar basis.

I have, &c.,

7916

No. 52.

STRAITS SETTLEMENTS.,

F. A. SWETTENHAM.

GOVERNOR SIR F. A. SWETTENHAM to MR. CIFAMBERLAIN.

(No. 47.) SIR,

(Received February 25, 1902.)

[Answered by No. 55.]

Government House, Singapore, January 31, 1902.

IN continuation of my despatch, No. 27, of the 20th instant, I have the honour to inform you that Dr. Fraser, House Surgeon, General Hospital, Singapore, who was appointed for a period of two years from the 19th July last, with a salary of $1,800 and compensation on half of it, has applied to be placed on the sterling system.

2. The obvious reply is that having accepted the appointment on these terms he must abide by it; but that seems rather hard when another officer in the same department, Mr. Ford, has, even more recently, been appointed by you to a similar post on a salary of £300 a year with triennial increments of £30.

3. This is an instance where an officer who has lately joined sees that a sterling scheme would benefit him and desires to take advantage of it. I make no excuse for referring again to this subject, because, as I have already said, a decision must be given without delay, and it is my duty to put you in possession of the fullest information to enable you to consider the question in all its bearings.

4. The completion of the sterling scheme and the consideration of an unusual number of promotions Have drawn my special attention to this question, and convinced me of its importance and the necessity of settling it in a way that will be final. I have explained in my despatch, No. 27, of the 20th instant, that by far the majority of Cadets in the service of this Colony will decline the sterling scheme, or promotion to sterling salary, if they think that dollar salaries, at existing rates, with all their existing privileges, will be open to them for the whole of their career. Within the last two or three days I have been informed that the Cadet Service considers that paragraph 9 of your despatch, No. 243, of 2nd August,† gives them this assurance. have already explained that the despatch does not appear to me to contain such a promise, and I gave my reasons for that view. I realize, however, that there are state- ments, in your despatch, No. 243, of 2nd August,t and subsequent despatches (not made public), which imply that officers in the Service on the 1st August, 1901, will not share in any advantages offered by a sterling scheme which was then only in course of preparation, and the inference is that they will continue to enjoy, not only the advantages which are secured to them in their present appointments, but similar advantages when promoted to offices carrying higher dollar salaries. Subsequently, in your despatch, No. 341, of 1st November, 1901,‡ you informed me that you were

† No. 24.

• No. 48.

‡ No. 37.

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inclined to modify your original decision by allowing those who desired it to come on to the sterling scheme.

5. It appears to me that, if the question is still an open one, it must be settled in one of three ways: either (1) the officers in the Service on the 1st August, 1901, must be excluded from the sterling scheme; or (2) they must be given the option of joining it and must understand that, when any post becomes vacant the new occupant will come on the sterling scheme, unless it can be shown that he would be a loser by doing so. In this latter case it should be laid down that at the next vacancy the salary of the appointment must be that on the sterling scheme as approved by you; or (3) every officer who joined after 1st August, 1901, must come on the sterling scheme; but all Cadets already in the Service may also elect to join it, and other officers may apply for the same treatment and will be accepted unless you are satisfied that, for good cause, this indulgence should not be granted. All those who remain on dollar salaries will be promoted to appointments with dollar salaries carrying all existing privileges of special exchange rates for leave and pension.

6. As regards this last alternative; if the present dollar salaries give an advantage over a scheme which is admitted to be a fair one for officers who, year by year, obtain higher marks at the entrance examination, it would, perhaps, be hardly fair to the Government to allow those who enjoy this advantage to take the sterling scheme when it benefits them to do so. If so decided the result would, of course, be that, while Government gave higher salaries to everyone (Cadets and others) who now join this Service, there would be no saving either in leave pay or pensions within the lifetime of those who were in the Service before the 1st August last.

7. To adopt the first alternative would, I fear, be the cause of considerable hardship. There are cases somewhat similar to the one described in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this despatch, but such a decision would practically exclude from the benefits of the sterling scheme almost the whole of the Federated Malay States Service who, as I have described in my confidential despatch of the 20th instant,* would be consider- able gainers by coming on to the sterling scheme. In the Colony, too, there are prob- ably a number of officers, not Cadets, who would be glad to be put on sterling terms, and to refuse them would be to sacrifice them, and the greater part of the Federated Malay States servants, to about forty Cadets in the Straits Settlements.

Moreover, it might be logically argued that as you had laid it down that the value of appointments in the Federated Malay States should be put on the same footing as similar appointments in the Colony, the Federated Malay States Officers would have a good claim to a revision of their dollar salaries, to raise them to the same amounts, with the same privileges, as those now drawn in the Colony,

8. No doubt the question is a difficult one, and I believe the view held here by those interested is that, without the opinion expressed in paragraph 9 of your despatch, No. 243, of 2nd August,† the rule might have been laid down as in the alternative (2) set out in paragraph 5 ante, and no question would have been raised by anyone. It is admitted that such a rule can now be made, but it would probably lead to a feeling of disappointment amongst those who think they have been encouraged to expect terms more advantageous to themselves.

9. While I am anxious that the Members of the Straits Settlements Cadet Service should have all the advantages you are willing to give them, I am not prepared to recommend something which will embarrass you or my successors, or which will sacrifice any section of the public service for another.

10. When I came here last year, everyone was told that you had consented to the introduction of a sterling scheme, and that it would be prepared as soon as possible. At that time no one had the slightest idea that double compensation would be granted. It was represented that the preparation of a sterling scheme would take many months, and that the need for immediate relief was urgent. The Service memorialized you (see enclosure to my despatch, No. 277, of 18th June, 1901,)‡ and asked for the grant of a bonus for the year 1901. You granted double compensation; and that imme- diately relieved the situation and caused great satisfaction, because it deprived no one of any of those privileges which it was the main object of a sterling scheme to abolish. It is freely admitted that, if there had been no grant of double compensation, there would have been little hesitation in the acceptance of sterling rates framed on anything like a generous system. Now, however, every officer is twenty per cent. better off than he was twelve months-even eight months ago, and he is very un-

‡ No. 21.

• No. 49.

† No. 24.

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