CO129-511-6 Salaries and conditions of service of government staff 27-4-1928 - 2-11-1928 — Page 38

3.

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because wages must be increased to a point above the

starvation line for the lowest paid workers. (b) Again, the standard of living of the Chinese

(c)

shopkeeper and artisan class has risen steadily owing to the gradual adoption of western ideas of

dress, education and amusements, and this rise

inevitably influences the general cost of living

for residents in the Colony.

Thirdly, the further fall of the dollar since 1922

s.d. to its present level of about 2/C has increased the cost in local currency of all commodities imported

from Europe. This cause is, of course, much more

important to officers appointed fran England, who

are naturally more dependant on imported goods than

are the Chinese, and who have also in many cases to

devote a large part of their salaries to the purchase

of sterling remittances for the support and education

of their families in England.

4.

In the case of the Chinese Staff the Govern-

ment has already been compelled to recognise the fact of the higher cost of living, and action has been taken from time to time, since the general revision of the salaries of

the Chinese Staff in 1921, to compensate for the rising

prices. Thus the rent allowances for officers on salaries

of less than $450 per annum were raised in 1923 from $2 a

month, where no quarters were available, and $1 a month, where single quarters were available, to $4 and $2 a month respectively; and in 1927, as a result of the report of a Committee which I appointed to consider the rates of pay of

office attendants, messengers, coolies, caretakers and

similar grades of employees in the Government Service, the minimum wage of the lowest paid labour was raised to $11

per