CO129-474 - Governor Sir Stubbs - 1922 [1-4] — Page 30

- 10

-

RATES OF REMUNERATION.

In estimating the value of a sterling salary in Hongkong, a factor of supreme importance is the question of exchange. During the years 1919 to 1921 the value of the Hongkong dollar has varied between 28. 4d. and Gs. 3d., with violent rises and falls. It will be seen, there- fore, that a sterling salary when expressed in dollars will vary within very wide limits, while the purchasing power of the dollar remains practically unaltered. The Colonial Government and some of those firms whose European Staffs are paid on a sterling basis have adopted special exchange rates to obviate the hardships which would otherwise result from these Anctuatione in the value of the dollar. The salaries paid by the Government to the following classes of officers may be taken as an index of the general rates of pay for Europeans obtaining in Hongkong:-

Cadet Officers

Crown Solicitor

Assistant Crown Solicitor

Chief Clerk, Colonial Secretariat

First Clerk, Colonial Secretariat

Medical Officers -

Nursing Sisters –

Senior Masters, Education Department

Masters, Education Department

£ 400-£1,200

£1,000-£1,200

£ 600-£ 800

£ 600-£ 800

£ 400-£ 600

£ 600-£1,000

£170-£ 225

£ 750-£ 850 £100-£ 750

Assistant Mistresses, Education Department £ 300-£ 400

Engineers. Public Works Department

Senior Overseers, Public Works Department

Overseers, Public Works Department Senior Sanitary Inspectors

Sanitary Inspectors -

£ 460-£ 950

& 400-£ 480

£ 260-£ 360

€ 400-£ 480

£ 220-£ 360

Revenue Officers

€ 220-£ 360

Chief Police Inspector and Chief Detective

Inspector

€ 500-£ 600

Police Inspectors

£ 400-£ 450

Police Sub-Inspectors

£ 320-£ 360

Police Sergeante

£ 220-£ 300

Police Constables

£ 160-£ 200

— 11 —

The cost of hotel accommodation for a single person varies from $145 to $250 per mouth, not inclusive of drinks, electric fans, and fires. The rates for a married couple would be from $240 to $400.

Boarding house accommodation for a single person may be put at $125 to $200 a month; for married couples, perhaps $200 to $350.

If a private servant be not kept, tips to the house servants would have to be added to the above.

¿

Wages of native servants vary from $12 to $30 per month. married couple of limited means, with no family, would probably be able to manage with servants whose wages would total not more than $40 to $60 a month. For people in better circumstances, and for larger families, the wages bil? might amount to anything from $80 to $150 a month.

As a rough general estimate, the all round expenditure of a senior Government Officer or senior Member of a large Europeau firm, with a family of three or four persons, might be put at from $800 to $1,000 a month; of a junior, also with family, at $450 to $650: and of a European of the artisan class, with family, $250 to $350 according to size of family, habits, etc. In all these estimates it is assumed that free quarters or rent allowances are provided,

The following are the present (1921) prices of some of the usual articles of consumption

(a) Locally raised :

Beef

Mutton

Pork

Chicken

Capon Duck

18 to 38 cents per lb.

25 42

15

J:

11

35 60 ++

20 14

"

32 55

30 40

55 70

17

40 cents each

22 25

Turkey Pigeon

22

Snipe

"

>

Quail

18 20

15

14

Partridge

Pheasant

Fish:

Carp

Cod fish

80 90

$1.25 to $1.75 each

about 24 cents per lb.

20

31

The pension rights and security of Government service aud, on the other hand, the greater scope for individual enterprise in private employment are, of course, factors which must be taken into account in any comparison of rates of remuneration,

ACCOMMODATION AND COST OF LIVING.

House rents in Hongkong are very high. For this reason the Government and many of the large European firms either provide free quarters for their European employees or grant rent allowances in addition to salaries. The following, on which Government rent allow- ances are based, may be considered as reasonable rents :--

Salary not exceeding £600

Salary £600-£900

Salary £900-£1,200 -

Salary exceeding £1,200

Rent $120 per month.

15

$150

15

19

$200

+

$250

11

זי

Mullet

Oysters

Perch

Pike

Plaice

Turbot

Crabs

23

51

32

•

Ferring

39

+

24

35

Lobsters

11

36

71

Mackerel

53

20

20

32

Prawns

40

aaaagge

20

*

11

24

30 +

Salmon

40

Shrimps

36

Soles

J

22

24

28

Page 30Page 31

12

-

Fruit:

Almonds Apples

about 45 cents per 1,

32

>>

Bananas

Carambola

14

1

པལ་

4

Pears

12 11

1.

Persimmons

10

Grapes

Oranges

30 15

Fegetables:

Long Beans

about 12 cents per lb.

Cabbage

Carrots

Lettuce

20

11

8

Mushrooms

Onions

Parsley

"

2

門

8

10

་་

Potatoes

Pumpkin

Radish

14

Spinach

5

H

Tomatoes

18

"

21

Beel root

3 cents ench

Cucumbers

15

11

!

Cauliflower

15

|

I