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HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.
I am aware that England could be cited as a precedent for calling upon the Civil Service to make sacrifices for the common weal, but the circumstances which existed in England at the time were different to those obtaining in the Colony. England had no surplus balance; on the contrary, she had a colossal National Debt; the whole credit of England, and therefore of the British Empire, was at stake, and whatever steps had to be taken to save the situation were justified by the paramount consideration of preserving the existence of the State.
In my submission, therefore, the proposed levy, merely as a temporary measure to balance our Budget is, under existing circumstances, hardly justified. On the other hand, I do consider that some permanent reduction in the salary bill which the Colony is now called upon to bear is essential.
Only recently I had occasion to urge that our Civil Service was too large and that in many instances the salaries were too high, and I see no reason to recede from this position. And I cannot resist the conclusion that the time has come when the whole question of Civil Service Salaries, with its complicated and sometimes individual concessions and privileges, such as the provision of free quarters, medical attendance, fuel allowance, etc., should be reviewed by another Commission. In this way, it may be possible that the prevailing Governmental salaries may be brought into a closer approximation to prevailing wages paid by the better private employers for comparable work. Judged by the above standard, and having regard to the Colony's capacity to pay in relation to a Revenue which, however variable in its items of receipts dependent on the degree of the Colony's prosperity, has at least the certain characteristics that large proceeds from undeveloped land sales can no longer be relied upon, and that the hitherto fabulous income from sale of opium must surely and inevitably reach a vanishing point, I have no doubt, and I repeat, that the present salaries are in many instances excessive. And, on the assumption that this view is sound, I submit that a temporary levy is not a solution to the salary question.
I suggest that pending a revision-and irrespective of whether a revision takes place or not-there should be a permanent reduction of a small percentage-say five per cent.-on all salaries above the suggested minimum under the levy scheme. Based on Exchange at 1s. 8d. the total salaries as set out in the 1936 Estimates amount to some eleven and a half million dollars. I gather that if the average rate of the dollar for 1936 works out at 1s. 3d. there will be an increase in the cost of the Colony's Sterling commitments (including Sterling salaries), of three million dollars. I do not know how much of this increase is attributable to salaries alone. But for the purpose of my argument I assume that the increase attributable to salaries comes to one and a half million dollars. The total figure for salaries expressed in dollars, and based at Exchange of 1s. 3d., therefore, comes to about thirteen million dollars. Five per cent. on this sum comes to $650,000.
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