C. S. O.
M.F. 237.
assistance and encouragement such a scheme.
to through this prolonged trade depres- | Assistant Superintendent of Mails in
sion. A choice of two evils presented the Post Office. itself alternatively in proposals for cuts in salaries or reduction in the personnel of the staff. The less harm- ful of the two courses was chosen.
Care Of Lepers. There is another matter which I khould like to mention. The Hon. theologial Secretary in dealing vith ambulance work mentioned in Ais, speech about lepers. I am in- formed that the number of lepers in the Felony are increasing. We have no facilities here for dealing with such cases except deporting them. From The Leper Quarterly issued by the Chinese Mission to Lepers, whose Headquarter is in Shanghai, and there is a branch office here, I understand that there is a leprosery in the Malay States tender the control of the Government there; and a is claimed
aimed to have been discovered by that institution. In my visit to the leper' Settlement at Tai Kam Island in June last, which is under the manage ment of the Rev. Dr. John Lake, I. found this unfortunate people there received itgreat comfort through religiouobifuence. I hope there- fore, that our Excellency, who is so deeply interested in all charitable and humane works in the Clony, will direct an enquiry as to the feasibility of having a hospital in Hongkong for these most unfortunate social out- casts.
new cure
1
"Axe" For Civil Service. In the application of the axe some firms have thought fit to institute an all-round cut in salaries of a uniform rate whilst others have worked on a sliding scale of reduction so as to inflict a minimum of hardship. The scale was graduated to a point below which it did not proceed, since it is considered that clerks and others of that category must be paid at least
a living wage.
Excessive Privileges.
The cogency of my criticism will appear with more telling effect when it
on
is appreciated that the cost of transport of Government servants figures at the colossal sum of exactly half a million dollars for 1935 against 42 lakhs this year. Not many rate- payers, I feel sure, realise the extent of the cost to the Colony which cer- tain privileges enjoyed by Civil Ser- vants entail. These privileges take the form of passage allowance, among others, to non-domiciled officers account of leave to England and back. I am aware that I am treading on If a scheme such as has been brought into operation very widely in delicate ground when approaching this subject. Leave privileges are defend- the Colony had been framed in con- nection with the Estimates it mighted on the principle that they assume a form of insurance for fitness and have afforded a partial measure of relief upon Government's own initia-efficiency. This insurance premium is tion and it would certainly have been probably justified in the case of the interpreted as a gracious gesture of the Government's sympathy with the efforts to assist the Colony at the present juncture.
inhabitants and an earnest of its
MR. BRAGA'S ATTACK. vailing. The increases to salaries
Generous Conditions In Civil Service.
KOWLOON MATTERS.
front rank members of officialdom and
of especial technical officers; but in all other cases my submission is that the insurance premia are much too high
during these lean years.
It will be recalled that on June
While critical of an uneconomical 19, 1930, this Council voted the policy dictating the engagement of that sum of over one and a half million sterling-paid officers for posts dollars to ameliorate the condition of could be filled with equal efficiency the officers of the Government because by local men, I must not withhold my of the high cost of living then pre-meed of praise to the Director of the Royal Observatory in attempting "to granted under the recommendations of train local officers on his present staff the Gollan Commission have been
to the necessary degree of efficiency continued ever since, despite the
as Magnetic Observers so as to obviate Colony's altered economic condition the need of employing another pro-
the worse. The local cost
fessional assistant." The Director's living is now substantially lower. The example might be followed advantage- Colony in turn expects some little re-ously by other heads of departments. ciprocity and in this expectation they I regard his recommendation as an have no desire to inflict upon the eloquent testimony to the efficiency of his subordinates who deserve the Colony's thanks.
for
employees of Government
of
the least
hardship. Any saving in personal emoluments could be applied towards an abatement of rates from which the humblest inhabitant stands to benefit. Overburdened With Officers. Scrutinizing
Owing to sickness, the Hon. Mr. J. P. Braga
his was absent, but speech, read by Hon. Mr. Bell, was as follows:-Your Excellency, I must
the Estimates with confess to some disappointment with some care, I fail to discover that any the Government statement in present-real effort has been made to curtail ing the Estimates for next year. the cost of the permanent establish- This disappointment rises from the ment of the Colony. For
example, fact that, while the trade depression the proposal to recruit two new Cadets formed the keynote of the Honourable results in the emolument for the the Colonial Secretary's review of the Colonial Secretary's department being Estimates, the Government has shown increased by a sum of $41,000 in 1935. no practical sympathy with the Colony In fact, the impression is very widely in the difficult times through which held that the Colonial Secretariat is it is passing. A substantial evidence already overburdened with a number of such sympathy would have been of officers of this category and in greatly appreciated if some scheme times when economy should be the had been formulated for a reduction first consideration it is a doubtful ex- in the high cost of the Colony's ad- pedient, to say the least, to add to ministration. This was one of the the cost of administration the salaries ratepayers' legitimate, if faint, hopes, of new officers of a grade that entails before the appearance of the Esti-higher expenditure. mates. That hope has been un- Similarly, the Treasurer's proposal fortunately blasted and the Colony's to increase the number of his Cadet inhabitants are left in the predica- assistants by one, who will act as ment of having to work out their own Superintendent of the Stamp Office, cannot be regarded as a recommenda- tion in the direction of economy. I have a perfect recollection of the days when the duties of Superintendent of the Stamp Office were discharged by locally-recruited officers to the entire satisfaction of the business munity. I cannot see any justification for the change.
salvation.
Usually well-informed concerning the action affecting the Colony generally taken by the big banks, the large commercial houses and in- dustrial undertakings in Hongkong, Government could not have failed to become acquainted with the measures adopted by these various institutions, almost without exception, to cope with difficulties besetting Hongkong
the
com-
The same criticism must be directed against the proposed employment of a sterling officer to fill the new post of
The retiring Inspector General of Police will permit an appreciation of his effort at economy in putting Chinese Sub-Officers in charge of cer- tain Fire Brigade Sub-Stations for duties hitherto performed by a Euro- pean charge of a Station, thus avoiding the Assistant Station Officer in
increasing cost of the Europen estab- lishment.
Higher Rate Threat.
In the matter of the collection of rates, the Colonial Secretary has raised the point of difficulty experi- enced in such collection and suggests as one of the steps for speeding up collection "an increase in the rate with a corresponding decrease if payment is tendered within the legal period provided in the Rating Ordinance." I would appeal strongly to the Colonial Treasurer to desist from carrying out, value. experiment of doubtful There is real danger that the increased
an
rate would be passed on to the tenant by a type of landlords with whom the honourable member on my right is probably well acquainted.
Touching on the question of those services that ensure the health, security and general well-being of the community I entertain serious doubts if the ratepayers are entirely satisfied with the Government's present policy. medical services of the Colony are Many entertain the view that the
insufficiently financed and my friends, the unofficial members of the Sanitary Board, are loud in declaiming
the
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