CO129-558-3 Levy on Salaries- petition from Chinese Civil Servants 3-1-1936 - 19-12-1936 — Page 13

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traditional, but quite unsound, practice of

regarding some officers in Hong Kong as on

sterling salaries and some as on dollar

salaries. The basic salaries of all officers

in a Colony should be expressed and paid in the

currency of the Colony. We have seen in Fiji

and the Western Pacific that difficulties can

arise even in cases where the currency was

assumed to be equivalent to sterling.

When, as

in the case of Hong Kong, there is no such

assumption, the practice of expressing some

even more

salaries in sterling is, unreasonable and dangerous,

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as the present difficulties very clearly show.

It has, no doubt, been argued that

officers of the class to whom sterling salaries

are paid are for the most part recruited in

this country, come here on leave, and draw their

pensions here. These, however, are minor

considerations rel

relative to the fact that the

officer spends his working life in the Colony and,

for the most part, draws his money there. If

it is desired to have a fixed rate for leave pay

family remittance

(and pensions issuable in this country, that can

easily be arranged; but to work the other way,

as we have done hitherto, and to have the basic

salary in sterling, with the necessity of fixing

rates for its conversion into the currency of

the Colony, is putting the cart before the horse.

I think, therefore, that it should be

decided forthwith to make no fresh appointments

to Hong Kong on sterling salaries. For the

purpose of any immediate appointments the existing

sterling scales can, no doubt, be converted on

ad hoc

SOLSCÃOLIORable basis into scales expressed in

dollars