CO882-6 — Page 379

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 882

6 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

180

2. The Governor of Hong Kong has been informed that the same rule should be adopted in that Colony.

3. This decision will dispose of the case of Captain Chancellor, which was referred to in

your Straits Settlements despatch, No. 357, of the 23rd of August last.*

I have, &c.,

41413

No. 97.

STRAITS SETTLEMENTS.

J. CHAMBERLAIN.

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

(No. 382.)

(Received October 6, 1902.) [Answered by No. 107.]

SIR,

IN continuation of my despatch, No. 323, of the 1st August,† I have now the honour to enclose 6 copies of correspondencet concerning the Sterling Scheme laid before the Legislative Council on the 29th ultimo. At the end of the correspondence will be found the revised scheme with a notification containing the conditions under which officers already in the service may elect to come on to it. I have, &c.,

Government House, Singapore, September 5, 1902.

Enclosure in No. 97. Appendix A.

F. A. SWETTENHAM.

SCHEME of Sterling Salaries for Appointments open to Cadets and for Professional and Miscellaneous Appointments.

(Approved by the Secretary of State (despatch No. 181, of 13th June, 1902) with effect from the 1st January, 1903.)

1. The appointments open to Cadets are divided into five classes carrying sterling salaries as shown in Appendix B. There is in addition one special staff appointment while several of the Miscellaneous and Professional appointments are also open to officers originally appointed as Cadets-vide footnotes in 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 Appendix B, will be given six months from the date of this notification to decide whether they will accept the sterling terms or not. If they do so, it must be on the clear understanding that they will accept the Secretary of State's final rulings in reference to the Widows and Orphans Fund and their bearing on those who, having previously served on dollar salaries, now elect to join the sterling scheme. Those who wish to draw sterling rates from 1st January must notify their acceptance before the 15th January--otherwise these rates can only be drawn from the 1st of the month in which scheme is accepted. An officer having 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 privileges 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 Passed Cadets.

In all such cases the Government will excrcise 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.

4. Where the sterling salary of his substantive post is shown in Appendix B 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.

• Not printed.

↑ No. 84.

† Appendix A only printed,

181

5. Passed Cadets will draw £300 a year and those who have not received a substantive appointment in Class V 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 occur- rence of vacancies rather than on length of service alone. 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 maximum salary in the one class is the same as the minimum salary 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.

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 some 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 Establish- ment, but, until the term of the agreement, or a renewed agreement, has expired, or has been cancelled by mutual consent, the officer concerned has no claim on the Government except as provided in his agreement.

11. It must be clearly understood that the Government is under no obligation to provide free quarters except in the cases of those officers whose duties make it necessary for them to live close to their work.

Officers now in the service will continue to enjoy the privilege on the terms already laid down, but it must not be assumed that any post hereafter created will carry with it a claim to free quarters.

August, 1902.

By Command,

W. T. TAYLOR,

Colonial Secretary.

[NOTE.-An officer drawing $3,000, whose post is entered on the scheme at £480 or £540 rising to £540 or £600, would come on to the scheme at the minimum rate and draw the first increment after three years' service in his present appointment. An officer on $3,000, who has been five years in his present appointment, would, if that appointment were entered on the sterling scheme at £480 rising to £5-40, by two increments of £30 each, come on to the scheme at £510 and draw the maximum rate after serving another year in that appointment. An officer on $4,800, whose post appeared on the scheme at £660 rising to £780, could, if he had been in the same office for six years, join at the maximum salary of £780, whereas an officer on $5,400 with two years' service would, with the sterling salary of £900 to £1,020. join at £900 and draw the first increment after a further year's service.]

41670

No. 98.

HONG KONG.

ACTING GOVERNOR SIR W. J. GASCOIGNE to MR. CHAMBERLAIN.

(No. 398.)

SIR,

(Received October 8, 1902.)

[Answered by' No. 105.]

Government House, Hong Kong, September 4, 1902.

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch, No. 171, of the 13th June last,* on the subject of the introduction of Sterling Salaries into the

• No. 66.