CO129-528-6 Raising of salary limits for non-European officers 28-10-1930 - 21-1-1931 — Page 2

Gov. Bonf

உ

Requesti approval by lélegraph. It proposal that the local equivalent

for

and

Class I should be raised to $3,800

that

for

Classes II & III to 76,000

28/x But

The present position is that unuer

Colonial Regulations the maximum for Class I is

£200, and for Class II £400. By special

arrangement authorised in 1923 when the

maximum for Class II under Colonial Regulations

was £300 per annum, a local limit of $5,000 was fixed. (See 25325/23) This maximum was

considerable higher than the dollar equivalent

of £300. It is now proposed that the

maximum for Class I should be raised to $3,800

and that for Class II to $6,000. The sterling equivalents

n of these sums at present rates of

exchange are approximately 2250 and £400|

acespectively.

The limit for Class Il fixed in 1923 was

considerably higher than the dollar equivalent

of the then sterling limit.

This was also the

case with the limit fixed for Malaya. (See

28284/21). Since 1923, there have been two

changes affecting the position:-

(ay. The change in the sterling limit

Effected at the last revision of Colonial

Regulations and:

(b). The considerable fall in the value of

the Hong Kong dollar. The new limits proposed

by the Governor seem to take into account only

the first of these changes, and possibly do not

even take that fully into account. (£300 - £400

is an increase of 33.1/3rd percent, while

$5,000 $6,000 is an increase

only

20 per cent.)

I am inclined to suggest, therefore,

that the

Governor