CO129-523-2 Appointment of Colonial Auditor 30-1-1930 - 7-7-1930 — Page 8

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In this connection I must point out that

in accordance with the Report of the Colonial

Audit Committee, 1910, and the Colonial Audit

Departmental Instructions (No.3) the salaries of

Auditors and Assistant Auditors of the Colonial

Audit Department are to be fixed, not by the

Governor subject to the approval of the Secretary

tate the line with the of State - as is the case with other officers - Seil. Mouw at wil.

auncy aver

much to his

AF

but by the Secretary of State after consultation

with the Governor. As Director of Colonial Audit

and responsible for the proper audit of the

Hong Kong accounts, I consider that the salaries

proposed by the Salaries Commission for the Audit

Office are not satisfactory as compared with

those proposed for other Departments in the case

of the Auditor, nor as compared with the cost of

living as well in the case of the 3rd Assistant

Auditor. I will however deal with the last case

in a separate minute. As regards the Auditor, the

main trouble is the inadequate minimum salary.

An officer who is getting £1100 or £1200 a year

plus free quarters and passages on leave in Tropical

Africa will normally not wish to transfer to so

expensive a Colony as Hong Kong on £1100 plus

-

a High Cost of Living allowance of 7 or 15%

with six years to serve before he reaches £1400

+H.C.L. allowance. A salary of £1300 - £50

which is less than what is proposed by the

Salaries Commission for the Head of the Police

and the Harbour Master-1350

£50 £1600,- (and

I see that the Hong Kong Government propose to

-

put the Head of the Police up to £1450 £50

and the pay of the Deputy Head to £1400would

£1.500-

£1.600

enable

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9

Thane kuran Garmas when I then to world from themes Hor oft by ke You

tund it

enable Hong Kong to get a really good Auditor.

If however it is thought impossible to give

the Auditor a maximum of £1500

Go

though I

consider that the Auditor ought to have

a higher maximum than the maximum (£1400) of

the time scale to which every Cadet Officer

can rise automatically provided he passes his

"efficiency bars", and he certainly ought to

get more than the Deputy Head of the Police

Department, I should be prepared to accept

as a compromise a fixed salary of £1400 plus

H.C.L. allowance (or 450 if the Deputy

Treasure or Deputy Head of the Police Depart-

ment is given £450). A fixed salary is in

many ways more suitable for an Auditor than

an incremental scale, as the latter may tend

to deter an Auditor from doing his duty if he

has not attained his maximum and is confronted

with a Governor who, he thought might use his

power of withholding an increment certificate

to induce the Auditor to refrain from pursuing

some question which the Governor wanted to be

dropped. I don't say that any Governor would

so abuse his powers; but an Auditor might not

care to run the risk with some Governors.

A... Harding

Director of Colonial Audit.

73

March, 1930.

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Page

Page

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M'Ellis

I hope to send

Salames Commission ple

th

for

But

the

as

mean tums

or

the

most want

Anditor; salary is concerned

fixing the 2 suggest

deasin

This week, a

this

That a

Shr

be

taken

without

that

delay

12

to

points

16

The D.C. A;

minute

()

The

late Gar's

recommendation

9 R. Dallin

(2) the

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undesirability of the

Auditor's salary teme

meremental sale.

On the first point from my

here

talks

with R' Dallin (who has

just returned

I share

from Have) 2

worded views of ch

the

shongly

4 his

Handing

as

complete

this

omih

unsuitability for promchen to

appl

On the second point

to me

dearly undesirable that the salary

fixed for the Auditor shr

degree depend

certificate

on

The same

h

arey

the Grovemar's

apaust

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