CO129-367 - Acting Governor May - 1910 [6-7] — Page 301

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Hon. Colonial Secretary,

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Brat 4 AUG 10

The extra allowances are enough to attract

the best men to the detective branch, especially as such work

is much more interesting and more congenial than street duty.

Still I should like to see the allowances increased. The

suggestion occurred to propose an incremental scale of allow-

-ances according to length of service on the detective staff.

This at first sight looks simple and natural but it presents

one rather serious drawback, which is this. A detective

constable (with his allowance) gets the same pay as a 2nd.

class Sergeant who is not a detective. When a vacancy occurs for

a 2nd. class Sergeant it generally happens that all (or nearly

all) the senior constables are detectives. If the vacancy is a

detective one there is no difficulty, but if it is for a barrack

Sergeant a detective constable gains nothing by the promotion

and as a rule they are not very keen and to take it. If the

detective constables were to get still more pay, and no in-

-crease made in the pay of 2nd. class Sergeants, this difficulty

will be accentuated, and the field of choice for 2nd. class

barrack Sergeants seriously limited. I have given the matter

a lot of consideration in all its aspects, but cannot claim

to have arrived at an ideal solution. On the whole I think the

best thing would be to give increased allowances only to those

who have had really long service on the detective staff, and

have proved their worth. I suggest that after 10 years' good

($5 p.m.). service on the staff the allowance should be increased by

$2.50 a month, and a further $2.50 for each additional 5 years

up to 20 as the limit. Of course high pay won't purchase

honesty. There is so much to be made by crooked dealings if a

man is dishonest that we cannot possibly afford to "bribe" him

into honesty. P.S. Hau Hang is a splended worker and I think

should be paid better than any of the others, though there are

other good men as well. I would make him "Principal Chinese

Detective" and increase his pay by $15 a month.