CO129-388 - Governor Sir Lugard - 1912 [1-2] — Page 209

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allowance of £100 from Imperial funds ( Mr. C. McI Messer ) and one appointment of £600 to £720 with a personal allowance of £75 ( Mr. E.A. Irving ).

The well earned promotion of these gentlemen ( some of

whom Sir Henry May, Mr. Sercombe Smith and Mr. Gompertz have since been transferred to higher duties which are not necessarily cadet appointments ) cannot be claimed to be

merely the natural reward of long service and extended

experience, for there are several officers on the medical

staff whose age and experience •qual those of the most senior of the above named gentlemen, but it has been due to the greater opportunities for promotion which exist in the

cadet service and the absence of which in the medical service

of the Colony seems to us to he one of the strangest argu-

ments in favour of an amelioration of our condition It has

recently been decided moreover that the cadet officers, who se

prospects of promotion are so much greater than ours, are

inadequately paid, and will in future receive duty pay in addition to the salaries indicated in the foregoing paragraph,

With regard to the engineering staff we wish to point

out that in addition to the Director of Public Works (£1000

to £1200) there are two Assistant Directors of Public Works

at sal--ies of £720 to £2810, so that the Officers of that

Department have something to look forward to as the reward

of good service even though they may never attain to the

dignity of head of the Department.

It may be argued that the climate and conditions of

life in Hongkong are such that Officers should be content

to serve at lower salaries than elsewhere, but we would