CO882-6 — Page 373

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 882

6 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

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8, that a 3rd Grade of Engineers be added, nine in number, pensionable, on £400 to £480 with two increments of £40 each, while the number of Assistant Engineers on agreement will still be twelve.

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8. As regards the question of the Architectural Assistant, the reason why the salary was entered at so high a figure was that in your despatch Straits Settlements, No. 1, of 1st January last, you stated that a person possessing the required quali- fications could not be procured for less than £500 a year. We have, however, secured the services of a qualified Officer (originally selected by the Crown Agents) who left the Government Service and joined again last year on a salary of $3,000 with com- pensation. Under these circumstances I have thought it better to amend the scheme and enter the appointment at £480 rising to £600 by three triennial increments of £40 each.

9. As regards the Revenue Survey Department I now recommend that the Chief Surveyor should have control of the Revenue Survey as well as the Trigono- metrical Survey, and that his salary be fixed at $4,800 with double Compensation, or £720 to £840 as shown on the Scheme.

The Resident General suggests that this Officer might be given the title of Director of Surveys and I see no objection.

10. I agree with you that Assistant Engineers on Railway Work should be given as nearly as possible the same terms as those holding similar appointments in the Public Works Department, and the necessary alteration will be made, and I have revised the salaries of subordinate officers in the Department in accordance with paragraph 15. The salaries of Telegraph Inspectors will be entered at £225 a year, your rising to £275 by two triennial increments of £25.

11. I now enclose copies of the Scheme as finally revised, and you will observe that, subject to your approval, I have made in italics the alterations necessary to carry out the proposals contained in my despatch, No. 267, of the 23rd ultimo,† in reference to the re-organization of the Larut and Krian District Offices. I have also provided for a District Officer in the Perak new Territory in Class III., and for an Assistant District Officer at Kuala Lipis, Pahang, on $2,400. Both these are necessary. The District Officer, Upper Perak, whom I had placed in Class III., has now been entered in Class IV.

12. I have prefixed to the lists of appointments a Notification which I trust fakes clear the conditions on which these terms are offered, and will save the Govern- ment from any future trouble or question in regard to the scheme. I personally ex- plained the scheme to a large meeting of Government servants at Kuala Lumpor on the 17th August, and so far as I can gather the scale of sterling salaries gives very general satisfaction, and the members of the Federated Malay States Service are grate- ful to you for this great improvement in their present positions and future prospects.

I have, &c.,

Enclosure in No. 92.

Federated Malay States.

F. A. SWETTENHAM

STERLING SCHEME for Appointments open to Cadets and for Professional and Miscellaneous Appointments.

[Approved by the Secretary of State (S. of S. Despatch No. 159 of 13th June, 1902) with effect from 1st January, 1903.]

(H.C. 4763/1902.)

1. The appointments open to Cadets are divided into six classes carrying ster- ling salaries as shown in appendix A. There are, in addition, five special staff

Not printed.

• 44386: not printed

† 34435: not printed.

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appointments, and four junior appointments open to Passed Cadets. The scheme for Professional and Miscellaneous appointments is as shown on appendix B.

2. The sterling rates of pay will come into force from the 1st January, 1903. Officers now in the service, whose appointments appear in the appendices, will be given six months from the date of this notification to decide whether they will accept the sterling terms or not. Those who wish to draw sterling rates from the 1st of January, 1903, must notify their acceptance before the 15th of that month, other- wise those rates can only be drawn from the 1st of February. An officer having once made his choice will not be allowed afterwards to reconsider his decision.

3. Officers who were already on the Pensionable Establishment on the 1st August, 1901, may, on application, be granted the privilege of this scheme from the 1st January, 1903, except in those cases where the sterling salary would place an officer in a more advantageous position than one who is his senior in service. This applies particularly to the cases of those appointed as Junior Officers or Passed Cadets.

In all such cases the Government will exercise its discretion as to the transfer of officers from the appointments they hold to others of which the salaries will in no case be less than those at present drawn.

Similarly, where, as in the Public Works Department, the appointments have now been regraded, the Government will decide how far the holders of posts under the P.W.D. classification scheme, published in R.-G.O. Circular No. 19, of 1901, can be allowed to take advantage of the regraded sterling scheme.

4. Where the sterling salary of his substantive post is shown in the appendix as varying from a minimum to a maximum rate, an officer will come on to the scheme as though it had been in force at the time when he received the substantive post which he is now holding.

5. Passed Cadets will draw £300 a year, and those who have not received a sub- stantive appointment in class VI. will be allowed to draw £350 after three years' service as a Passed Cadet.

6. Promotion from one class to the next will depend on merit and the occurrence of vacancies rather than on length of service alone. Increments of salary can only be drawn in accordance with the terms laid down in R.-G.O. Circular No. 49 of 1902. The number of years' service on the maximum salary in one class will not count towards earning an increment of salary on promotion into the next higher class, unless the maxi- mum salary in the one class is the same as the minimum in the class immediately

above.

7. Sterling salaries will be converted into dollars at a rate based on the average rate of exchange during the preceding year.

8. An officer appointed to act in an appointment of a higher grade will, when the half salary becomes available, draw half his own salary and half the minimum salary of the appointment in which he is acting.

9. When an officer who has chosen to remain on the dollar scale is acting for an officer who is on a sterling salary, he will receive half the dollar salary of his own appointment and half the existing or notified dollar salary of the post in which he is acting.

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Similarly, when an officer on a sterling salary acts for an officer on a dollar salary he will draw half the sterling pay of his substantive post and half the initial rate of salary attached, in the sterling scheme, to the office in which he is acting.

10. It must be particularly noted that all persons serving on agreement are bound by the terms of their agreements and can have no claim to any of the benefits conferred by this scheme.

In the case of many of the professional appointments, the holders may originally be engaged on agreement and, if their service is satisfactory, may, at the option of the Government, be permanently retained and placed on the Pensionable Establishment,

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