CO885-8 — Page 218

PUBLE RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

THE IC.O. 885

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He has become, in certain specific subjects. fact, an expert on one or other of the numerous branches of business which have to be dealt with, and there is much advantage in being able to refer to a particular Assistant Under Secretary these special subjects, in whatever Department of the Office they may originate. Accordingly, as a reference to page xiii. of the Colonial Office List will show, it has been long the custom to refer certain special subjects to each of the Assistant Under Secretaries, whether or not they arise within the geographical departments with which he ordinarily deals. Nor must it be forgotten that, unless it is possible to entrust to the Principal Clerks a far larger measure of discretion to deal finally with business than is usually given to that grade in other offices, the interposition of the grade of Assistant Under Secretary between them and the Permanent Under Secretary is absolutely essential in an Office where the volume of business is so large as it now is in the Colonial Office. In 1873, when there were two Assistant Under Secretaries, the number of papers dealt with in the Office in a year was 14,001. In 1902 that number was 53,250, so that although the work in the interval has nearly quadrupled the number of Assistant Under Secre- taries for dealing with it has only been doubled. It must, I think, be admitted that in the Colonial Office, at all events, the duties of the Assistant Under Secretaries are very clearly differentiated from those which can be entrusted to the Principal Clerks. There is also the consideration that, in the event of the abolition of the grade of High Staff Officer to which the Assistant Under Secretaries belong, the Secretary of State would find himself precluded from obtaining, in case of necessity, aapistance in the higher ranks of the Office from outside, a necessity which has arisen in the past and which may arise again in the future, and which cannot safely be ignored.

5. The existing organisation of the Colonial Office appears, therefore, to be one which is in theory well adapted to meet the special requirements of the Department, and is if anything rather more strictly in accordance with the general principles laid down for the service than the organisation of several other Departments. It can be no less certainly maintained that the organisation of the Colonial Office has proved itself to be efficient in practice. It will I am confident, be recognised that for the past seven years the Colonial Office has been dealing either with constantly recurring conditions of crisis, such as the affairs of South Africs and West Afrios, or with special problems, such as the federation of the Australian Common- wealth, of exceptional magnitude and difficulty; and although the pressure has been great and the ermin imposed upon all the members of the Office has been severe, it cannok fairly be asserted that the Office' ban so far failed, te, transact its business-and: to soquit itself of the duties and responsibilities, which, haye devolved upon it as to under it nadessary to entertain the question of the

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reorganisation of its staff, or of the abolition of

one of its principal grades. Nor can it be argued that financial considerations call for reorganisation. The charge for salaries in 1873 was 29,6011., and in 1902 it was 45,8951., and, as already stated, In the work increased in this period fourfold. other words, an increase of 300 per cent. in the work has been attended by an increase of only

5 per cent. in the charge for salaries.

6. There is, however, one respect in which it does appear that the Office is at a distinot dis- advantage as compared with other Departments, a disadvantage which, having regard to the con- ditions under which it works, and the nature of its duties, appears to be without sufficient justifica- tion. The Treasury, transacting a business which, it is understood, was represented by about 20,000 papers in the year 1902, against the 58,250 which represented in that year the work of the Colonial Office, has two Permanent Under Secretaries, with salaries of 2,000l. a year, rising after five years' service to 2,500l., and an Assistant Secretary with 1,500l. a year. The Colonial Office has one Per- manent Under Secretary, with a fixed salary of 2,0001. Of the four Assistant Under Secretaries of the Colonial Office, one has a salary of 1,2007. rising after five years to 1,500l., and another has a salary of 1,2001. a year. The other two have salaries commencing at 1,000l., and rising after five years to 1,2001., and they are thus actually in a worse position than the three Principal Clerks of the Treasury, whose salaries commence at 1,000. and rise to 1,2001. by annual increments of 50%, and whose duties are in all respects similar to those of the Principal Clerks of the Colonial Office. The Principal Clerks of the Home Office and the Foreign Office have salaries of 9001, rising by 50%. to 1,000, while the Principal Clerks of the Colonial Office have salaries commencing at 8501. and rising by 50l. to 1,000l. As regards the First Class Clerks, the Treasury First Class Clerks have salaries of 700%. by 251. to 9001., those of the Home Office and Foreign Office have salaries of 7001, by 251. to 8001., while the First Class Clerks of the Colonial Office commence at only 600, rising by 251. to 8001. It is true that the Colonial Office scales are in accordance with the recommendations of the Ridley Commission, but there appears to be no reason why the Colonial Office alone should have adopted those conditions, or why any distinction in this matter of salaries should be made between the Colonial Office Clerks and those of the Treasury, the Home Office, or the Foreign Office. In this respect, no less than in regard to the salaries of the Assistant Under, Secretaries, there appear to be good grounds for urging that the members of the higher division of the Colonial Office should be placed on the same footing as those, in the corresponding division of the Treasury,

7. It remains to be considered whether, in order to avoid repeated applications for additions to the establishment, any general increase of the different Departments of the Colonial Office can properly be

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