CO129-599-1 Salaries Commission 8-12-1947 - 22-12-1947 — Page 268

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Mr. Wallace

After examining the modified proposals.

for expatriation pay in Malaya and Hong Kong, I

have come to the conclusion that there is no

reason at all why the rates should be precisely the

same in both places.

This would only be justified

if the cost of living and general conditions were

identical and if the scales of salary proposed for

comparable posts were exactly of the same order in both places

Such is of course not the case and there is, therefore,

no reason why expatriation pay in the two places should

be the same.

Moreover, it will be seen that the rates

proposed by Malaya expressed in pounds sterling give

curious odd figures, such as £231, £308, and £336 per

annum. While these figures all convert into an

exact and even number of Straits dollars per month

they do not convert exactly into Hong Kong dollars

per month and in some cases fractions of dollars

would result. This would, of course, make it

impracticable to adopt the Malayan figures exactly

as they are given in the Governor General's telegram

of the 3rd January.

In the above circumstances, I feel that

it would be much preferable to adopt the rates