CO129-578-2 Revision of salaries for Government employees 4-11-1938 - 12-12-1939 — Page 92

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architects.

Both of these officers are also invariably

members of the Legislative Council, and the successive

Directors of Public Works have for long been members of

the Executive Council also, whereas the Director of

Education has not for very many years been a member of

either. As I am not able to agree, therefore, that these

three posts should be ranked on an equality, I should

find it hard to resist a claim from the Director of Medical

Services or Director of Public Works for a higher salary if the Director of Education were now to be placed on

£1,600.

3.

The other major consideration which prompted the proposal for a salary of £1500 was a comparison with

other Colonies. I enclose a statement, extracted from

the 1938 edition of the Dominions Office and Colonial

Office List, of salaries paid in the half-dozen largest Colonies to officers whose duties may be expected to be fairly uniform. It will be seen

(a) that the relationship between the Director of

Education and other officers as proposed in Hong Kong is very close to the average relationship in the other Colonies; and

(b) that the salary of the Director of Education in Hong Kong would, under my proposal, bear a reasonable relationship to those in Colonies of comparable importance.

4.

A further point which must be borne in mind is that the suggested salary of £1500 for the Director of Education appears to me to be suitably related to the suggested salaries of his immediate subordinates, since the present proposals provide salaries of not more than £1250 for the "deputies" of other Heads of Departments on