CO129-533-13 Salaries- conversion rate of sterling 30-1-1931 - 21-1-1932 — Page 35

Sir S.Wilson.

35

letter:

You should see the China Association's

we may hear more from them on the subject.

that

It is unfortunate that the main file has

been mislaid, but I do not like to hold up this

it is

paper any longer while they being hunted for.

You may remember the circumstances in which it

was decided

-

after a good deal of controversy in

Parliament and elsewhere

that Hong Kong

officials should be paid their salaries at current

rates of exchange (subject to fixed limits).

The decision removed what the officials had

regarded as a grievance for some time past;

but

the commercial and non-official community look at

the matter from a somewhat different angle, and

are disposed to ask why Hong Kong Civil Servants

should benefit just at a time when Civil Servants

everywhere else are suffering loss. The argument

is a plausible one, and may be used against us

with some effect; but I take it that there can

be no question of going back on a decision which

was reached after the fullest consideration of the

whole matter. The alternative suggestion of a

general 10% cut in sterling salaries would

clearly be justified if the state of the Colony's

finances demanded it; but as they do not (at

present at all events), there is no case for its

adoption.

(Sir R.Hamilton may like to see the

papers? If I remember right, he interested

himself