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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference:

PILIC.O. 882

6

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

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No. 132.

HONG KONG.

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

(No. 191.) SIR,

Downing Street, May 21, 1903.

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch, No. 165, of the 31st March last, forwarding a list of officers who are likely to be affected by the proposal to amend No. 12 of the notes accompanying the Hong Kong Sterling Salary Scheme, so as to exclude officers serving under agreements from the option of coming under the Scheme.

2. I have to point out that Messrs. Taylor and Johnson, the Lighthouse- keeper and Senior Assistant at Waglan Island, are not serving on agreement, but were permanently appointed from the first. In this connection I have to refer you to paragraph 7 of the letter from this office to the Trinity House, dated the 2nd October, 1900,† a copy of which was enclosed in my despatch, No. 371, of the 1st December, 1900. They are, therefore, entitled to come under the Sterling Scheme, if they wish to do so.

3. As you have allowed Mr. Rees, Miss Hamilton and Miss Lawrence to accept the terms provided under the Scheme, Mr. Masters is the only case left to consider. The extra expenditure involved in allowing him to come under the Scheme will only be $264, according to the schedule enclosed in your despatch, and I am, therefore, of opinion that no great advantage would be gained by altering the terms of note 12, whilst the objections to such an alteration are obvious.

4. Mr. Masters' application should, therefore, be granted.

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No. 133.

I have, &c.,

J. CHAMBERLAIN.

HONG KONG.

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

(No. 204.) SIR,

(Received May 23, 1903.)

[Answered by No. 134.]

Government House, Hong Kong, April 17, 1903. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch, No. 16, of the 16th of January last, and to state that I have duly noted your instructions that the sterling salaries scheme is to be amended by including in it all non-clerical posts the salaries of which exceed $1,200 per annum; that officers whose posts are included in the sterling salaries scheme, but who, having been appointed before August, 1901, do not elect to come under the scheme, and who are not entitled to exchange compensation, not being domiciled in Europe, should receive a non-pensionable addition of 25 per cent. to their salaries; and that all officers appointed after the beginning of August, 1901, to posts in the sterling salaries scheme, amended as above, are to be brought under the scheme regardless of the question whether or not they would have been entitled to exchange compensation.

2. I have now to forward the enclosed statement of the non-clerical posts with salaries exceeding $1,200 per annum, which should be added to the sterling scheme. The salary proposed for the post of Cashier in the Treasury is the equivalent of the dollar salary converted at 2s.

No. 131.

↑ Not printed.

‡ No. 127.

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Mr. Carvalho would, of course, not accept the sterling salary proposed, because he is in receipt of exchange compensation.

But his successor would, it is to be presumed, be a local clerk, and for such the sterling salary proposed appears to me to be amply sufficient.

The salaries of the Chinese Medical Officers and Laboratory Assistant have been converted at 1s. 8d., and the maxima of the sterling rates show an increase (at current rate of exchange) over the maxima of the dollar salaries. I consider the rates proposed sufficient, and I have to ask permission to offer them to the officers concerned.

As regards the salary of Mr. Young Hee, I would propose that it be fixed at £200-£250 by £25 triennially; that he be styled "District Master, Second Grade" (Mr. Williams and Mr. Curwen being styled District Master, First Grade); and that the same rate be paid to all masters, irrespective of nationality, appointed to the second grade. This salary will give Mr. Young Hee more in silver than his present salary plus the $50 a month allowance as a normal master proposed in my despatch, No. 59, of the 3rd of February last.* I propose that that allowance should cease as soon as Mr. Young Hee joins the sterling scheme.

I consider the salary proposed for this office amply sufficient, and I would ask you to reconsider your decision conveyed in your despatch, No. 300, of the 12th of September, 1902,† paragraph 2, that he should be paid at the same rate as Mr. Williams (£270-£330).

Mr. Williams and Mr. Curwen are English fully certificated trained teachers. Mr. Young Hee is not either a trained or certificated teacher.

Moreover, the Inspector of Schools is of opinion that Board School Masters of a suitable stamp could be obtained from home at the salary proposed, to fill this grade. If more Anglo-Chinese schools are opened it will therefore be economical to have the lower grade proposed.

3. To the statement is appended a list of new posts which should be added to the sterling scheme, and a schedule of proposed rearrangement of staff of overseers in the Public Works Department which has been largely increased since the sterling scheme was drawn up. I propose that two of the Second Class Overseers who are provided with permanent quarters be transferred to the First Class, subject to a deduction of £30 a year from their salaries in that class, and that four Second Class Overseers who are at present engaged on a purely temporary basis on $1,200 a year without exchange compensation be placed on the permanent establishment as Second Class Overseers.

4. I have now to invite your attention to the question of the inclusion in the sterling scheme of the posts of Accountant and Superintendent, Registration Branch, in the Post Office.

These two posts were apparently included in the scheme at the high sterling salaries provided in it for them on the assumption that they would at some future time be filled by Europeans.

It was not intended that the present incumbents of these two posts, who have no domicile in a gold standard country and are not otherwise entitled to exchange compensation, should enjoy sterling salaries, and I submit that it is unnecessary and would be unwise to allow them to do so now.

Already two Clerks in the Treasury, the Second Clerk and Assistant Clerk, whose salaries are at the rate of $1,800 to $2,100, have applied for increased salaries on the ground that their work is more responsible than that of the Accountant in the Post Office, and if the latter were now permitted to draw a salary of £280-£355 ($3,584-$4,544 at current rates) general dissatisfaction would be created among the many clerks in the service who are similarly circumstanced as regards domicile, &c., as Mr. Reed and Mr. Remedios.

The Postmaster-General is of opinion that the dollar salaries already provided for these two posts are sufficient-indeed, Mr. Johnston has expressed the opinion

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† 23014: not printed.