CO129-524-2 Hong Kong University- financial position- Chinese studies- future of the Chinese school and the Annual... 27-1-1930 - 12-8-1930 — Page 125

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do not refer to any expenses of recreation, intellectual or otherwise, because we might appear to be making a joke in very poor taste.

On this aspect of the matter we think that we can not do better than quote a passage from the Report of the University Grants Committee in February, 1922:-

"The best men and women will neither enter nor continue in the profession at the rates of salaries at present within the competence of the Authorities to offer, nor can a teacher under the perpetual shadow of financial anxie- ties give his best to the work of instruction and research. We have re- ceived evidence of members of University Staffs living in circumstances quite incompatible with continued efficiency, and it is certainly the case that many teachers are not in a position to enjoy advantages essential to the proper discharge of their duties, such as books, travel, membership of learned societies, etc.'

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19. Now the type of man who must be attracted to fill a Chair or to become a Reader, if the University is to maintain its reputation for efficiency, is one who has taken a good Honours Degree and has had subsequent experience in dealing with his subject, both as an advanced student and as a teacher. This means that a suitable candidate is probably over thirty years of age at the time of his appointment and a married man. In the junior posts the University prefers to engage single men, but if it were to impose this limitation on candidates for Chairs and Readerships it would appear from the evidence that it would probably fail to fill its vacancies in most cases. For Universities are ex- panding rapidly in the United Kingdom and in the Empire generally, the numbers of honours men turned out annually is not very great and they are wanted for university work in ever increasing numbers. There is competition also from the schools and for re- cruits to the administrative side of Education to be met.

20. Most of the witnesses called our attention to the much more favourable condi- tions attaching to service in the Education Department of the Colonial Government; and certainly, to take a typical instance, the financial position of a University Lecturer does not compare favourably with that of a junior master. The former is on a scale of £450 to £600 which is translated into dollars at the current rate of exchange. The latter, who would usually be younger on first appointment, and probably have lower academic quali- fications, is on a scale of £400 to £800 and, in addition, is at present receiving allow- ances in respect of exchange compensation and high cost of living which increase his income by over 30%. If the recommendations of the Salaries Commission Report, 1929. are approved, a master under the Education Department would be on a scale of £500 to £950 and also receive a high cost of living allowance of 15% if married and 7% if unmarried; and the disparity between his position and that of a Lecturer would be still further increased.

21. But, as we were forced to point out, this very natural comparison is not of much assistance to us. The Government has available funds out of which to make in- creased payments to its officers; the University has none. If the positions were reversed, the Government officer would probably not have his salary increased because the Univer- sity was able to deal more generously with its servants.

22. If. in fairness to the members of the University Staff, we pass over the serious fact that the University does not quite meet its present necessary expenditure out of its actual income, we think it is essential that our recommendations should be such as there is a reasonable chance of being realised. To ignore this last mentioned condition could do the University Staff no good.

23. The present salary of the Vice-Chancellor is £2,000 per annum.

The post is one of great dignity, it should be filled by a person of recognised standing, and it entails a very considerable expense in entertaining: we think that the salary payable to the holder should be at the rate of £2,400 per annum.

24. As we have already stated, the Council of the University by a resolution pass- ed at its meeting of the 30th September, 1914, decided that the Registrar should rank as a Professor with seniority by date of his appointment to his office. We have also given our reasons in paragraph 12 of this Report for preserving uniformity, for the present at least, in the scale of all professorial salaries. We think that, in all the circumstances, the salaries of the Professors and the Registrar should be on a scale of £1,100 per annum, rising by £50 annually to £1,450,

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25. Readers are appointed as heads of academic departments to which the Univer- sity, under present conditions, can not afford to attach Chairs; though the qualifications re- quired of a Reader are practically the same as those of a Professor. We recommend that they should be put on a scale of £850 per annum, rising by £50 annually to £1,100.

26. The present remuneration of a Lecturer is perhaps worse than that of any other member of the University Staff. He also must have high academic qualifications and be a person who has had considerable practical experience of University teaching. At present he is on a scale of £450 or in some cases £500, rising to £600; and this we consider to be quite inadequate. This will appear even more manifest if his emoluments are expressed in terms of dollars payable monthly; for, after deducting his contribution to the Superannuation Fund and with the dollar at 2/-, his income, if he were in receipt of £500 per annum, would be just under $396 per mensem, a sum equal to the salary of a clerk in the Higher Grade of the Junior Clerical Service in the Government, as recom- mended in the Salaries Commission Report, 1929.

27. We recommend that Lecturers and Tutors should be in three grades. In the Department of English the duties of the Senior Lecturer are most responsible as he is often acting in a professorial capacity. In his case we recommend a scale of £750 per annum, rising by annual increments of £40 to £950, with the title of Senior Lecturer in English. For Lecturers generally we consider the scale should be £700 per annum, rising by annual increments of £40 to £900.

The last grade in the Teaching Staff of the University is the Tutorial in English. The policy of the University with respect to these posts is to induce adequately qualified young men to come to Hong Kong on a three years agreement; it is neither expected nor desired that they should remain as Lecturers and Tutors for a longer period. For these posts we recommend a scale of £600 per annum, rising by £40 annually to £680.

28. There are also attached to the Faculty of Engineering two Demonstrators, one in Electrical Engineering and one in Workshop Practice, on salaries of £450 to £500 per annum. We recommend that they should each receive a salary of £560 per annum, rising by annual increments of £30 to £800.

29. The Librarian is on a scale of $4,200, rising to $5,400 by $300 annually. As the size of the Library increases, the importance of this post must become greater; and the present scale of remuneration does not appear to us to be sufficient to attract and retain a fully trained Librarian. We suggest a salary of £600 per annum, rising to £800 by annual increments of £40 for a fully trained officer.

30. In all cases we consider that an officer should be placed in that position in the new scales of salary which he has reached by length of service in the old. On that basis we estimate the additional cost of our recommendations in respect of salaries to be £10,700 per annum to which must be added £1,070 as the additional contribution due by the University to the Superannuation Fund.

(b). Agreements.

31. The practice of the University n this subject has varied considerably. Ori- ginally it would appear that the intention was that every member should have a clear and written contract of service; but this intention was not carried out systematically and only a small proportion of the Staff ever entered into Agreements.

32. Then the policy of the University changed. In May, 1923, Conditions of Ser- vice were laid down which, as regards salaries, were more favourable than those con- tained in any Agreements existing at that time; and at its meeting of the 22nd June, 1923, the Council resolved that:-

"In the case of the present members of the Staff, the adoption of the above Salary scales should be conditional on their acceptance of General Con- ditions of Service in lieu of their existing individual contracts, the note on General Conditions of Service approved by the Council on May 11th. 1923, to serve as a general guide to the change involved".

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