CO129-524-10 Audit staff salaries 15-4-1930 - 15-4-1930 — Page 3

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Quite so. We had to take this line with the late Sir C.Monro at Gib.-much to his annoyance.

(Int.)A.F.

proposed for them is £1150, not £1100. But

my point is that the Auditor is not the Head of a "Minor Department" and should get more

than such officers.

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 of State

as is the case with other officers

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 Commis- sion for the Audit Office are not satisfactory

as compared with those proposed for other

Departments in the case of the Auditor, nor

I

as compared with the cost of living as well in

the case of the 3rd Assistant Auditor.

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