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48583

(No. 459.) SIR,

194

No. 113.

HONG KONG.

GOVERNOR SIR H. A. BLAKE to MR. CHAMBERLAIN.

(Received November 24, 1902.)

[Answered by No. 115.]

Government House, Hong Kong, October 21, 1902. I HAVE the honour to inform you that, in view of paragraphs 10 and 12 of your despatch (Straits Settlements), No. 341, of the 1st November, 1901,* to Sir F. A. Swettenham, General Sir William Gascoigne caused the following note (No. 12) to be placed among the notes to accompany the sterling salary scheme, forwarded to you under cover of his despatch, No. 398, of the 4th September, 1902† :—

44

Officers at present serving under agreements have the option of coming under the sterling scheme, and will be required to accept sterling salaries on re-engagement."

2. As the result of this announcement, letters have now been received from Mr. Rees, the Principal Land Surveyor, and from Mr. F. Masters, Assistant Overseer in the Public Works Department, accepting the offer of sterling salaries. Mr. Rees is on a sterling agreement for a salary of £300, and Mr. Masters on a similar agreement for a salary of £150, whereas the salaries provided in the sterling salary scheme for the appointments, which these officers hold, are £360 and £160 respectively. It is therefore as much to the advantage of Messrs. Rees and Masters to accept the salaries offered in the sterling salary scheme as it is to the advantage of the Government to abide by the terms of the agreements under which these officers were engaged.

3. In the case of Mr. Rees there were exceptional circumstances, for, in conse- quence of the introduction of the sterling salary scheme, Mr. Rees would, under his agreement, draw a smaller salary than Mr. Grey, the Land Surveyor, or Mr. King, the Land Bailiff, both of whom are subordinate to him. I have, therefore, subject to your approval, acquiesced in the acceptance by Mr. Rees of salary provided in the sterling salary scheme.

4. But in the case of Mr. Masters no such anomaly will be caused by holding that officer to the terms of his agreement; and I see no reason why this Government should in his case modify the terms of an agreement which has already been signed and accepted.

5. If the precedent is established, a considerable increase of expenditure will be involved, and I have therefore the honour to enquire whether it was your intention that all officers on agreements should be allowed to come under sterling salary scheme and to recommend, for your consideration, that Note No. 12, which I have quoted above, should be amended to read:—

'Officers at present serving under agreements will be required to accept sterling salaries on re-engagement;" and that individual cases, presenting exceptional features, should be considered on their merits.

I have, &c.,

HENRY A. BLAKE,

Governor, &c.

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pensation and exchange rates as are already granted to officers domiciled in a gold standard country.

2. The grounds on which the memorialists base their request are that the closing of the Indian Mints has been practically equivalent to the conversion of the Indian currency into that of a gold standard country, that the cost of living has risen greatly in the Federated Malay States owing to the fall in the exchange value of silver, and that the Government having recognised the effect of this in the case of officers domiciled in gold standard countries, and in that of natives of India recruited for service in the Police Force and in the Malay States Guides, should extend the same privilege to those of its servants who come from the same country and from Ceylon where similar conditions prevail.

3. The first two of these arguments have been already fully recognized by the Government, and it was with the object of relieving the hardships entailed thereby that schemes have been approved giving a generous increase of salary to all the subordinate officers of Government. In the matter, however, of the comparison between their treatment and that of officers domiciled in a gold standard country, and of those natives of Northern India to whom a somewhat similar privilege bas been accorded, the Memorialists appear to have overlooked the fact that the condi- tions under which they and those with whom they seek comparison joined the service are widely different. In the one case it would be impossible to obtain locally the material required for filling the higher ranks of the service or for recruiting the Sikh Police and the Guides, and it is consequently necessary to offer terms sufficiently high to attract candidates from elsewhere, whereas in the case of the subordinate appointments to which the Memorialists refer, no attempt is made to attract other than local candidates. If natives of India and Ceylon find the terms locally offered sufficiently attractive to induce them to leave their homes and compete with local candidates for subordinate appointments in the service, it is clear that, when the enhanced cost of living has been recognized and provided for by increased rates of salary, the responsibility of the Government ceases.

In

4. A consideration of the measures which have been taken by the Government during the last ten years to assist the subordinate staff to meet the increased cost of living in the Federated Malay States shows that that branch of the service has little cause to complain of a want of consideration on the part of the Government, and still less to evince" ą general feeling of intense disappointment." On the 1st October, 1897, a 10 per cent. non-pensionable allowance was granted. January, 1900, that allowance was amalgamated with salaries, thus becoming pensionable, a privilege never extended to Europeans. While further schemes for the improvement of the pay and prospects of the subordinate branches of the service were under consideration, in 1901, a 10 per cent. non-pensionable bonus was granted for that year, and from the 1st January this year new schemes have been, brought into force, giving a maximum increase to salaries of about 28 per cent. at an average increased cost of approximately 16 per cent. on salaries (pensionable) drawn in 1901. 5. As they may be of interest in this connection, I enclose, for your information, statements* of the services of the signatories to this memorial.

I have, &c.,

F. A. SWETTENHAM.

50486

No. 114.

FEDERATED MALAY STATES.

HIGH COMMISSIONER SIR F. A. SWETTENHAM to MR. CHAMBERLAIN.

(Received December 6, 1902.) [Answered by No. 125.]

(No. 433.) SIR,

I HAVE the honour to forward, in duplicate, the enclosed Memorial from certain subordinate officers in the service of the Government of the Federated Malay States, claiming that they are domiciled in India and Ceylon, and praying that for this reason they may be given the same privileges with regard to exchange com-

↑ No. 98.

Government House, Singapore, November 13, 1902.

• No. 37,

Enclosure 1 in No. 114.

To the Right Honourable Joseph Chamberlain, M.P., Secretary of State for the Colonies, Downing Street, London, W.

The Memorial of the Government Officers of the Federated Malay States domiciled in India and Ceylon.

SHEWETH;

1. Your Memorialists are a numerous body filling the following posts in the

• Not printed.

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