CO129-569-7 Revision of salaries 6-7-1938 - 11-10-1938 — Page 8

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I am inclined to agree that the present

variations are inequitable and that the various

branches of the service should be brought into line.

The Committee point out that whereas the

residential allowances, according to the present

salary scales, increase steadily according to

seniority and rise in salary, the cost of living

remains mainly steady and forms a larger proportion

of the salary of an officer on a medium salary than

of that of a senior officer. To remedy this they

suggest a complicated formula for fixing residential

allowances which would result in a gradual increase

of the allowance paid until the basic salary of £1000

a year a reached and a fairly rapid diminution of

the allowance until none is paid at a basic salary

of £1,250 a year or over.

They also suggest minor

modifications in the basic salaries at the top of

the Public Works and Educational scales to counteract

the lower maxima which these recommendations will

involve.

While the Committee are no doubt correct

in pointing out that the cost of living is a larger

proportion of a medium salary than of a high one, I

fear that I fail to follow the reason for their

recommendations, which are presumably based on this

fact.

While the cost of living does not rise very

considerably as an officer rises in the salary scale,

it does, however, remain fairly steady, and though

it forms a lower proportion of total salary it does

not diminish absolutely. The Committee's suggested

scale of allowances shows, however, an absolute

reduction after a certain point, as well as a

proportionate reduction in relation to total salary.

This is presumably justified on the grounds that an

officer