CO129-599-2 Salaries Commission- 1947 Report 1-1-1947 - 31-12-1949 — Page 13

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addition ront allowances which had romained unchanged since the 1928 Salaries Commission's roport were increased slightly to bring the maximum rentals proscribed for the various classes of officers nearer to the rents in for co in 1941. While the Commission was sitting, these revised maximum rontals were increased by a further 30%, following the passing into law of the Landlord and Tenant Ordinance, 1947, which raised the controlled rent of domestic promises to the 1941 rato plus 30%.

Emergency Relief.

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Apart from these modifications the general system of emoluments for the public service was the same in March, 1947, when we began our deliberations as it was at the fall of the Colony in December, 1941. In view of urgent representations by the Director of Medical Services on behalf of certain grades of the Service who had not been granted temporary additional allowances and by the European Civil Survants' Council, the Comission on 5th April recommended to Government as an irmediate measure an increase in the cost or living allowance from 50 to 75% for married officers in the middle and lower ranges of salaries, the extension of temporary additional allowances to certain grades and a proportionato increase in the cost of living allowances of o..ficers on higher salarios. It was not until the end of June that an increase was approved by the Secretary of Stato.

Difficulties of Recruitment.

14.

Although wages paid to artisans and unskilled labour by Government and the utility companies and the major comercial employers of labour were regulated by an agreement made during the Military Administration, there was no such agreement as regards clerical workers, technicians, or higher grade employees. As a result the emoluments paid by private concerns were often far in excess of Government rates and resignations from Government service were numcrous. Higher salaries payable outside made recruitment for most branches of the public service extremely difficult and such candidates as were forthcoming were often of a for lower standard than before the war.

General Policy.

15.

It was against this background that the Commission co..menced its doliburations. But wo soon found that the mere revision of salaries was not the greatest of the problems before us. Our terms of reference instructed us to frame our recommendations bearing in mind the policy laid down in White Paper Colonial No. 197 of 1946 relating to the organisation of the Colonial Service. The main principles concerning salary revision set out in that White Paper are as follows:

"(1)

(21)

The salaries of all posts in the public Service of a Colony should be determined according to the nature of the work and the relative responsibilities irrespective of the

or domicile of the individual.

race

The salaries should be fixed at rates

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