Enclosure No.3.
GENERAL CONTIDENTIAL REPORT.
183
14
During the nine months that they have been hearing
witnesses and sifting evidence the Commissioners have noted
down a number of points which, whilst not belonging properly
to any of the individual departments upon which they have
already reported, are such as in their opinion should be
brought to the notice of Government with the recommendations
of the Commission upon them. Moreover they are most of them
matters which the Commissioners consider would best be dealt
with in a document that, unlike their departmental reports,
should not be one for publication, though they ask that it
should be forwarded to the Secretary of State for the Colonies.
The points raised are diverse and cover many fields.
2*
RETIRING AGE. The present rule is that after
attaining the age of 55 an officer may retire and that at 60
he must retire. At the fomer age the Governor in Council
may call upon an officer to retire, for no reason assigned
other than his age. But whilst the Governor has this power it is a rule difficult to enforce, at any rate it appears
to have been enforced very rarely. This in the Commissioners'
view is regrettable as there have been instances of officers
who at the age of 55 years were past their best, and who were
causing discontent in the service by the fact that they were
keeping out of their posts more efficient subordinates. It
is sometimes urged that it is expensive to retire officers at
an early age, because there will be the pension of the retired
officer to pay in addition to the salary of the officer who
has succeeded to his post. Up to a point this is true, It
ceases to be true when the over-age officer is inefficient, and
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