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at or below 2/6d.
This system was maintained for
some years and proved very successful in operation.
In 1926, however, the dollar fell to 2/- or
thereabouts and since the sliding scale stopped
short at 2/6d there was urgent need for relief.
The Governor recommended relieving married officers
who had establishments at home, by the payment of
a portion of their salaries in sterling at the rate
Ź of 8 dollars to the pound. We were all agreed here
that this proposal had serious disadvantages and that
the correct course lay in an extension of the
sliding scale (see 22681/26 and Mr. Fletcher's letter
therein). Owing, however, to shortage of money
the Governor could not see his way to recommend the
extension of the sliding scale and we had perforce
to put up with his original proposals as a
temporary makeshift. The arrangements then made are
still in operation but the Governor realises their
disadvantages and he proposes a new scheme of
compensation. The ideal which he aims at is:-
(a) the grant of a percentage addition to
salary increasing as the dollar falls,
(b) the grant of a double amount to married
officers as compared with single officers, since the high cost of living undoubtedly presses more hardly
on the former. On this point there is no doubt much to be said but I think we are precluded from saying it in view of the Malayan precedent of temporary allowance at the rate of 10% to single officers and 20% to married officers.
The scheme which he proposes allows for
variations in the fluctuation of the dollar between
2/6d and 1/9d but is a little confusing in that it appears that no percentage will be granted when
the
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