CO885-(11-12) — Page 410

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PUBLIC RECORD

OFFICE

-.

Reference

C.O.882/12

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recommend that in future an officer who is allowed to proceed on leave should be entitled to receive the full cost of his return passage, but that no part of the cost of passages for his wife and family should be met by the Government. These modified terms should, we think, be extended retrospectively to those officers who have been granted long leave of absence in Europe during the period of the suspension of the concession. No other change need be made in the conditions of the grant which are at present in force. 18. We have in the appropriate departmental chapters proposed the creation of certain special superior posts at the head of the clerical services in certain departments. These posts are shown in Appendix II.

A

In chapter II we have commented in general terms on the defects of the present system of a general clerical service. change is needed in the interests of good administration as well as of economy. In 1914 there were seven grades of clerks, begin- ning with the Writers on the low pay of Rs.360, but rising to the not unreasonable figure of Rs.3,600 in the second senior grade, while a first grade on Rs.4,800 provided what might be styled selec- tion posts. The Herchenroder Committee raised the minimum to Rs. 780 and gave an increase of thirty per cent. to the other grades. The Denham Commission gave an incremental scale to each grade, the minimum in the grade being in each case above the Herchen- roder rate. A later measure enhanced the amount of the incre- ments so that the maximum could be reached in the fourth instead of the fifth year. The extravagance of these changes (which affect a service of 202 men) can be seen from the following comparison

1913-14. 1931 maximum.

Writers

Class VI

Class V

Class IV

Class III

Class II

Class I

+

Rs.

Rs.

360

975

720

1,680

1,200

2,400

1,800

3,600

2,400

4,800

3,600

6,000

4,800

7,200

Even after applying the 10 per cent. cut, the present rates, if they had no other defect, would be excessive.

19. The division of the clerical service into seven classes has no relation to the work in which they are employed. Although, as would be expected, the duties assigned to the clerical service vary widely in difficulty and responsibility there is no room for so wide a sub-division of grades and, in actual fact, no serious attempt has been made to effect a corresponding classification of the work. The general tendency has been treat the grade system as if it were an incremental system within a single grade. Promotion,

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with rare exception, follows the strict order of seniority within the whole service. In some cases this necessarily involves a change of department. It does not necessarily or even ordinarily involve more difficult or responsible work. Where the vacancy is filled from within the department in which it occurs the clerk concerned may proceed to the higher scale of pay without any alteration in his duties. This is especially the case as regards the lower grades,but we ourselves have seen clerks even in the higher grades occupied on work which taxes neither their intelligence nor their responsibility.

It is obvious that a graded system thus operated must become impossibly expensive, and it is our decided opinion that the present system must be changed to one which has a clear relation to facts. In reality there are only two grades of clerks. In the first place there is the clerk who is fit for the careful performance of routine duties; he cannot be left on the same pay throughout his career, his domestic responsibilities naturally increase, but he must not be paid more than the value of his work. In the second place there is the clerk who is fitted either by higher education or by intelligence to rise in responsibility and who, when he gains experience, becomes a candidate for succession to the highest posts in the administration. 20. The system of pay which we recommend is based on this Fundamental distinction. There should be (1) a general grade on a pay of Rs.900-50-1,250-75-1,700-100-3,600 and (2) a special grade of Rs.2,400-200-5,000, limited to 40 posts.

The scale proposed for the general grade would enable a man who entered service at 18 to reach a pay of Rs.1,700 by the time he was 30 he would then proceed by annual increments of Rs.100 and would reach Rs.3,600 when he was 50, assuming that he was not selected for promotion to the special grade. It must be admitted that these would be rates of pay fully adequate for ordinary clerical work, and so adjusted as to meet a clerk's increasing domestic liabilities. They compare very favourably with the rates for similar work paid by business houses and banks in Port Louis.

21. We propose that the special grade should be limited to 40 posts, as this number would give a sufficient reserve from which to recruit officers to fill the superior posts. These 40 posts should be allotted to different departments according to the amount of superior clerical work required in each department. Twenty posts in this grade should be assigned for the promotion of clerks from the general grade, but this promotion should not be made until after a clerk bad served for ten years in that grade, when he would be about 27 years of age and his capacity would have been effectively tested. The other posts should be open (a) to candidates who have taken a University degree, but who have not exceeded 27 years of age, or (b) to candidates who would be qualified to obtain an assistant mastership at the Royal College, but who have not obtained a

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