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adding five years to the service. The average effect would be nearly the same as that of the present rule, but the fiftieths principle works more fairly and simply.
31. We further recommend that the Colonial rules as to the age for voluntary retirement be extended to Imperial officers serving in unhealthy climates, i.e., that officers serving in places where pensions are based on fortieths or fiftieths should be allowed to retire at the age of fifty or fifty-five respectively, provided that they have had residential service in such climates for a minimum period of say six years.
32. We recommend that the Act of 1876 should be amended so as to differentiate between two classes of unhealthy climates in accordance with the practice in the Colonies. Mr. Cartwright, who represents the Foreign Office on our Committee, is not prepared to concur in this recommendation, on the ground that it would deprive Consular officers of the full benefit secured to then under the Act, even though it were accompanied by the concession proposed above in the matter of age for voluntary retirement.
III. Colonial Governors' Pensions.
33. The grant of pensions to Colonial Governors is regulated by the "Colonial Governors (Pensions) Acts " of 1865 and 1872 and the " Pensions (Colonial Service) Act" of 1887; and also, as regards certain points, by section 12 of the " Superannu- ation Act, 1859," and by the “Superannuation (Unhealthy Climates) Act, 1876.”
34. These Acts are printed as an Appendix to the Report. (Appendix E.) It will be observed that Governorships are divided into four classes according to salary. The arrangement of the classes, and the scales of "full or reduced " pension attached to each class, are shown in the following table :-
35.
Pension.
31
Class
Salary.
Full Rate. Reduced Rate.
i
£
+ 1,000
£ 8. d.
666 13 4
Not less than 2,500
750
500 0 0
3
Not less than 1,200
500
333 6 8
4
Other cases
250
166 13 4
1 Not less than 5,000
In order to qualify for a Governor's pension, a Governor must have adminis- tered Governments, or have been employed in such administration and in the per- manent civil service (Imperial or Colonial), for a certain number of years, and in order to qualify for the pension attached to a particular class there must have been at least four years' pensionable administration in a Government or Governments of that class. The number of years' service qualifying for a
full " or "reduced " pension is as follows:---
For full Rate.
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For reduced Rate.
(a) 18 years as Governor
(a) 12 years after 40 us
Governor or
(1) In the case of retire- mont on the ground of age, i.e., 60 years.
or
(b) 10 years as Governor and 25 altogether as Governor and Civil Servant.
(b) 8 years after 40 as Governor and 20 altogether as Gov- ernor and Civil Ser- vant.
10 years as Governor.
(2) In the case of retire. ment on the ground
15 years as Governor.
of ill-health.
"
36. An addition to the " reduced " rate is provided for under the Act of 1872 in certain cases where the service is longer than the period qualifying for the reduced rate but not so long as the period qualifying for the full rate.
37. When a Governor has previously been employed in the permanent civil service (Imperial or Colonial) but has not served long enough as a Governor to become qualified for Governor's pension, he if 60
may,
years of age or incapacitated by illness,
7
be granted from Imperial funds, in respect of each year of his service as a Governor, an addition to his civil service pension of one-sixtieth* of his salary of his last per- manent office (Imperial or Colonial); but his total pension from Imperial funds must not exceed £1,000 a year or two-thirds of the salary of his highest permanent office, whichever is the greater.
38. Pensions granted to Governors who are in receipt of naval or military non- effective pay are subject to a deduction of one-half the amount of the non-effective pay.
39.
The Governors (Pensions) Acts of 1865 and 1872 appear to have been framed primarily to meet the case of Governors who had no previous pensionable service; but Governors are now usually selected from the permanent civil services of the United Kingdom and the Colonies or from the army and the navy, and it is there- fore more important to provide for the case of those who have had previous service under the Crown.
40. The principal objection to the present Acts arises from the arbitrary division between the periods of service which qualify for the several rates of pension. This objection applies in the case of all persons eligible for appointment as Governors; but it has special force in the case of permanent civil servants, who have little incen- tive to leave appointments in which they are earning a definite annual increment of pension in order to take a Governorship in respect of which their pension prospects are indefinite. It is, in our opinion, essential that any alteration of the present rules should provide for pensions proportionate to the number of years' service.
41. The existing Acts are not less arbitrary as regards the rates of salary which qualify for inclusion in the various classes. The rates of Governor's salaries vary greatly according to local circumstances, such as the "expenses of representation," cost of living, and climate; and in the case of the self-governing Colonies there is always the possibility that a Governorship may in consequence of a reduction of salary be reduced to a lower class under the Acts. There are, also, cases in which the importance of a Governor's position is by no means represented by the rate of salary.
42. The same considerations apply to any scheme of pensions based on salary alone, and it has therefore not been possible for us to suggest any arrangement, analogous to the ordinary rules for civil pensions, by which a Governor would receive on retirement a pension equal to a certain fraction of his annual salary in respect of each
year of service.
43. We recommend, therefore, that the principle of classification should be retained, but that a new classification should be drawn up which should have regard not only to salary but also to climate and the importance of the position.
44. The actual grouping of the offices would be a matter for decision between the Secretary of State for the Colonies and the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, and we do not consider that it falls within the functions of the Committee to make a definite recommendation on this subject. A provisional list, however, has been prepared in the Colonial Office for our information, and as we have been guided by it in considering the equity of the rates of pension which we recommend, we have thought it advisable to include the list as an Appendix to the Report. (Appendix G.) 45. It will be observed that the list contains certain Governments to which the present Acts do not apply, since those Acts only relate to Governments of Colonies, as defined by the Act of 1865, and to the High Commissionership of Cyprus. We are satisfied, however, that the officers administering the Governments of the Protec- torates which have been created in recent years, or which may hereafter be created, should, by reason of the nature of their duties, be placed on the same footing as regards pension as the Governors of Colonies, and we think it desirable that they should be brought within the scope of any new Act on the subject.
46. We therefore recommend that the offices to which it will at once apply should be expressly stated in the Act, and that power should be reserved to the Secre- tary of State for the Colonies, with the consent of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, to include such other offices as they may determine to be entitled to be treated as Governorships for purposes of pension.
• If the Service as Governor was in an unhealthy climate, the fraction is one-fortieth under the Superannuation (Unhealthy Climates) Act, 1876.
26200
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