CO129-599-2 Salaries Commission- 1947 Report 1-1-1947 - 31-12-1949 — Page 30

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CHAPTER IV.

ALLOWANCES

General

44.

After careful consideration of the allowances at present payable in the public service, we are of the opinion that the majority of them can be dispensed with, provided that the permanent emoluments of posts are otherwisc adequate for their holdcrs. A major exception is the high cost of living allowance, the temporary retention of which in a modified form appears to us to be essential until stable conditions return. Apart fron the high cost of living allowance which is dealt with fully in Chapter X, we recommend that in general, allowances should only be prescribed in rcspce of:-

(i)

(ii)

reimbursable expenditurc incurred in performance of duty;

duties extraneous to normal duties;

(iii) special risks.

Quartes and Allowances in lieu of Quarters.

45.

We have already stated in paragraph 31 that we recommend the abolition of the privilege which certain officers at present enjoy in occupying Government quarters free of charge. We also recommend the abolition of rent allowances and have instead in accordance with the principle cnunciated in the Colonial Office White Paper incorporated an appropriate clenient for rent into eli revised basic salarics. ive consider that the present system of rent allowances and charges for the use of Government quarters is unnccessarily complicated, is open to criticism as being discriminatory and is the cause of many. anomalies. It was not until 1946 that any change was made in the maximum permissible rentals laid down in General Order 109 as the result of the 1928 Salaries Cormission's recomendations, although it is obvious that there were considerable fluctuations

Even with the in rents during the intervening period. recent increase of 30% introduced to bring rent allowanccs into line with controlled rents under the Landlord and Tenant Ordinance, 1947, the evidence produced to us shors that in many instances the rents paid by officers on dollar salaries for accommodation

f a type greatly inferior to that which they occupied before the war bears little relation to the rent allowances they are at present receiving. connexion we have taken no ace cunt of rents in excess of the controlled rates, although there is ample evidence that many Government servants are being forced

Te have by principal tenants to pay cxcessive rents. already forwarded a separate recommendation to Government that steps should be taken to advise the public of their rights as tenants under the Landlord and Tenant Ordinance and to give Government servants and other members of the public such assistance as is possible to secure those rights.

46.

In this

We consider that the practice of treating house allowance as part of pensionable emoluments is an

a

سلا

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