CO129-558-3 Levy on Salaries- petition from Chinese Civil Servants 3-1-1936 - 19-12-1936 — Page 103

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HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

as to the use made of the Government Hospitals by persons, other than Government servants, able to afford the services of private practitioners does not support the complaint that the Government Medical Service is merely entering into competition with the private practitioner. It is true that the fees charged could be raised but the Government is anxious to avoid the necessity for raising them being of opinion that the charges at present fixed are not unduly low.

The Education Department like the Medical Department has developed with the times. Honourable Members will recollect how Government was urged to proceed with the new Central British School. The Police Department, regarding which I shall speak more fully later, has had new and onerous duties thrust upon it, and an opium policy, which we have adopted in conformity with our obligations to the League of Nations, has at the same time diminished our revenue and swollen the population of our gaols.

I now turn to the third of the questions I suggested as matters for consideration viz. whether the services rendered by the Government could be performed more cheaply without undue loss of efficiency. The Honourable Member's arguments on this point aimed chiefly to show that the Government ought to proceed more rapidly with the replacement of an admittedly expensive European staff, more particularly in the subordinate grades, by Asiatics. Mr. Lo quotes statements by the late Governor and by the Acting Colonial Secretary, The Government stands by these statements but as the Honourable Member must realize the process is an extremely slow one. The Government has the matter constantly in mind but there is a transition period in which we now are when we still have the Europeans more or less as teachers and the non-Europeans still more or less in the capacity of pupils. This is the case in the Sanitary Department, where local Sanitary Inspectors have been and are being trained. It is also the case in the Medical Department in respect of Nursing Sisters, but there are other reasons why it has not been found possible to reduce the number of sisters and increase the number of nurses. There is no difficulty with regard to recruiting probationers for the local nursing staff; in fact there is a large waiting list. In spite, however, of the salaries given which are higher than those offered in other institutions and in spite of the excellence of the accommodation provided the majority of nurses leave hospital soon after qualification. This exodus has been very disappointing especially to the teaching staff who have worked so hard to train the nurses and uphold the standard required. A large number of nurses have married, some are in Government employment as public health nurses, others are engaged in private nursing.

It appears to be a fact that Chinese girls like their sisters in England prefer to reside in their own homes or in their own quarters where there is more freedom than is possible in an institution where routine work under strict discipline must be maintained. Government

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