CO129-595-2 Financial compensation for married officers whose families were evacuated in 1940-1 21-2-1946 - 31-1-1947 — Page 13

HONG KONG.

9

Colonial Office,

Downing Street,

S.W.1.

13

January, 1947.

8

13

Sir,

I have the honour to refer to your despatch No. 54 of 1st August, 1946 on the subject of compensation to married officers whose families complied with the evacuation order in 1940.

I have given my careful consideration to your recommendation that the deduction of 10% imposed upon part of the accrued pay of interned officers should be remitted where an officer is able to establish that compliance with the evacuation order put him to material additional expense.

This proposal, however, presents certain difficulties and disadvantages. The decision to withhold ten per cent of payments of full accrued salary above a certain maximum was reached only after prolonged consideration of the matter. The general background to the question is set out in the enclosure to my savingram No. 391 of 30th November, 1946. It will be observed from paragraph 4 of enclosure A to the savingram that the deduction may be abated by the amount of any other income tax paid either by the official or his dependants in respect of the accrued pay or any part of it.

Apart from the difficulty of reopening this question with all its possible implications, the proposal would appear to involve certain practical disadvantages. The most serious of these, in my opinion, is that, while benefiting the higher paid officer, who is least in need of assistance, it would affect little, or not at all, officers in the lower scales of salary. Moreover, unless claims of individuals are to be carefully investigated and assessed, all officers would have to be treated alike irrespective of the number of their dependants.

I have considered, in this connection, the possibility of affording relief in some other form. Where payments have been made in the shape of basic maintenance allowances to dependants of temporary Government servants and of members of Civil Defence Services these have not been recovered from the officers concerned. This policy can be justified on the ground that all such payments to members of the Civil Defence Services were limited to a maximum of £1,500, and temporary Government servants received only half pay subject also to this maximum. Basic maintenance allowances were granted only in case of need, where no other resources were available. In no case hitherto have they been allowed in retrospect, and if it were now decided to credit Government servants with an allowance of this nature it would be difficult to refuse similar treatment to others whose dependants did not receive them. Moreover I should find it hard to justify payment to Government servants of more than full salary.

In the circumstances, while I sympathise with the feelings of those officers who, through compliance with the evacuation order, have found themselves in a less satisfactory position financially than some of their /colleagues

GOVERNOR

SIR MARK YOUNG, G. C. M. G.,

etc.,

etc.,

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