CO129-190 - Governor Hennessy - 1880 [10-12] — Page 225

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Enclosure B.

MINUTE

BY THE GOVERNOR,

(of 5th September, 1876.)

1. Under instructions from the Right Honourable the Secretary of State, His Excellency the Governor is pleased to direct that the following Rules respecting Pensions to the Public Servants of this Colony be published for general information.

2. Subject to the exceptions and provisions hereinafter contained, all public servants holding offices named in the Civil List Ordinance, or offices described in the annual estimates as the fixed establishment of the Colony, and drawing salaries of thirty pounds a year and upwards, shall be entitled to pensions as follows:-

To any person who shall have served ten years and upwards and under eleven years, au annual allowance of fifteen-sixtieths of the annual salary of his office.

For eleven years and under twelve years, an annual allowance of sixteen-sixtieths of such salary.

And in like manner, a further addition to the annual allowance of one-sixtieth in respect of each additional year of such service until the completion of a period of service of thirty-five years, when the annual allowance of forty-sixtieths may be granted, and no addition shall be made in respect of any service beyond thirty-five years.

3. The Chief Justice, or any Puisne Judge, provided he shall not have served in any other office in the Colony, shall be entitled to a pension after seven years' service; at which time an allowance of three years' additional service shall be made to him; such pension to increase at the rate of two years' service for each additional year he serves, until an allowance of ten years' additional service has been made to him; after which his pension shall increase at the same rate only as other officers, until he shall have reached twenty-five years' service, when he may receive the full allowance of forty-sixtiethe of his annual salary, and no addition shall be made for any service beyond twenty-five years.

4. The Colonial Chaplain, provided that, previous to his appointment in such capacity, he shall not have served in other office in the Colony, shall be entitled, after ten years' and under eleven years' service, to pension at the rate of twenty-sixtieths of the annual salary of his office, increasing an additional sixtieth for every additional year's service, until the completion of thirty years' service, when the annual allowance of forty-sixtieths may be granted, and no addition shall be made in respect of any service beyond thirty years. The Surveyor General and the Assistant Surveyor General, when debarred from private practice, shall be allowed the benefit of five additional years in regard of pension on the ground of professional services.

5. Any public servant of the Colony who may be elevated to the office of Governor of Hongkong shall, on his retirement from that office, be entitled to the same pension as if he had continued to hold the office which he vacated when he was appointed Governor, and (supposing him not to be fifty-five years of age) as if he had retired from ill-health. Provided that, if there shall be offered to any such ex-Governor, being under the age of fifty-five years, any public office or situation under the Crown,

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which, having reference as well to the state of his health as to the nature of his previous services, such ex-Governor may, in the judgment of the Lords Commissioners of H. M.'s Treasury, he properly called upon to accept; it shall be competent to the said Lords Commissioners to declare, should he decline the same, that the pension of such ex-Governor shall be suspended until he shall attain the age of fifty-five years.

6. No public servant will be held to have an absolute right to compensation for past services, or to any pension under this Minute; and Government will retain power and authority to dismiss any public servant without compensation.

7. No pension will be granted to any public servant without the authority of Her Majesty's Government, in order to obtain which, certificates of service, age, good conduct, and of the ground of retirement, must be submitted to the Secretary of State.

8. No pension shall be granted to any public servant who shall be under fifty-five years of age, unless

upon certificate from the head of the department to which he may belong, and from two medical practitioners that he is incapable, from infirmity of mind or body, to discharge the duties of his situa- tion; nor, unless he shall have discharged those duties with diligence and fidelity, to the satisfaction of the head of his department. And in case the officer claiming such pension shall be himself the head of a department, then such pension shall not be granted unless he shall have discharged the duties of his office with diligence und fidelity, to the satisfaction of the Governor, by whom the same shall be certified to the Secretary of State.

9. It will be competent to Her Majesty's Government, in cases of peculiar and extraordinary merit, to grant special and higher rates of pension than those laid down in this Minute, but not exceeding the full amount of the salary.

10. The above-mentioned rates are only to be granted in cases of decidedly faithful and meritorious service; but where the testimony as to fidelity, diligence and merit is in any respect defective, a deduction will be made from the apportioned rates. Where there has been obvious negligence, irregu larity, or misconduct, the grant of allowance will be altogether withheld.

11. The claim of a public servant to pension will be considered to have commenced from the date of his first permanent appointment to the fixed establishment of this Colony; service on the tempo. establishment of this Colony will, however, be allowed to count for pension when such service shall have been continuous with a subsequent permanent appointment. In the case of public officers appointed from home, their services will be reckoned from the date of commencing to receive Colonial

rary

pay.

12. Cadets appointed in pursuance of the regulations published in the Government Gazette of 12th October 1861, will date the commencement of their claims to pension from the date of their respective appointments, provided that they pass satisfactorily the half-yearly examinations, as well as the final examination within three years from the date of arrival in the Colony.

13. The services in respect of which superannuation allowances are granted, ought in all cases to bave been continuous; unless interrupted by reduction of office or other temporary suspension of employment not arising from misconduct, or voluntary resignation of the party.

14. The pension shall be computed upon the salary of the permanent office held by a public servant at the time of his retirement, provided he shall have held the same office for at least three years, and that the salary of the same shall not have been revised during that time: otherwise the pension shall be calculated upon the average annual amount of salary received by such years next preceding the commencement of such peusion.

person

for three

15. In case of reduction or abolition of office, temporary allowances may be assigned agrecably to the special rates; on condition, however, that the parties receiving the same will be liable to be re-called into the service, and with the understanding that they are to be re-employed, as opportunity may occur, in preference to new applicants for office.

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