CO129-526-6 Schemes for employment of time-expired soldiers 4-2-1930 - 12-12-1930 — Page 18

2.

18

in paragraph 3(d) of the attached report. In the ordinary

course the supply of soldiers discharged in the Colony may

be expected to fill all possible demands, but I shall be

glad to have Your Lordship's general approval for Colonial

Regulation 20 to be waived in the case of any soldier

selected for employment on special grounds but unable to

obtain his discharge until his Regiment has been transferred

to India.

5.

I shall be obliged if the War Office may be

informed of the action taken by this Government which it is

hoped will go some way to solve the difficult question of

the employment of ex-soldiers.

6.

Apart from the question of soldiers

transferred to Government employment on discharge here,

there is the further case of those who wish to enter other

branches of civil life in Hong Kong. The Government has

always in such circumstances insisted upon a proper

guarantee of repatriation from the employer in the event

of the man becoming unemployed within a period of five

years, as it is most undesirable that such persons should

be left without subsistence in the Colony and I do not

consider that the cost of repatriating such persons should

fall on the Colonial Government.

7.

In certain cases, and in particular when

vacancies are available in the Chinese Maritime Customs,

it has been found impossible to obtain the required

guarantee from the prospective employer and desirable

employment is lost unless an outside guarantee is forthcoming

In one instance the regimental fund provided the guarantee.

The difficulty is caused by the refusal of

the War Office to guarantee the repatriation of a locally

8.

discharged