CO129-599-2 Salaries Commission- 1947 Report 1-1-1947 - 31-12-1949 — Page 75

66.

74

an officer of the Finance Department to prepare a series of type budgets in consultation with members of the Almoners' Department, the head of the Relief Section of the liedical Department, and the case workers of the Social Welfare Council. For food expenditure the basis taken was of quantities which were priced according to figures supplied by the Price Controller: other expenditure was assessed according to the expenditure pattern revealed by the Statistical Officer's surveys and by our own analyses. The information derived in this way was obviously less reliable and revealing than what would have been derived from well compiled cost of living indices, but it was the best available. Having already made suggestions for the revision of salaries to moet what we regard as a conserva- tive estimate of money values in the next few years, we got from these type budgets an indication of what men need to meet their essential expenditure estimated on a basis of rigid economy. We recognise the weakness of our method and offer the results only as something that may serve until properly digested statistics give an inconvertible basis for periodical revisions of this allowance.

Allowances to be paid on basic salary, not on totalendiments

186.

We have considered whether high cost of living allowances should be paid on total emoluments including expatriation pay or on basic salaries only. In order to maintain equality of treatment of local and expatriate officers we recommend that as in the case of deductions for Government quarters basic pay alone should be taken into account.

Differentiation according to family status.

187.

For officers drawing revised basic salaries in excess of $149 per month we recommend that high cost of living allowance should be paid according to the following rules :

(i) Married men, widowers or widows with one or more

dependent children should receive 100% of the standard cost of living allowance for their salary group.

(ii) Married men with no children should receive 80,.

of the standard allowance.

(iii)Widowers and widows without children and unmarried officers should receive 60% of the standard allowance.

(iv) While the Commission does not, in general,

favour the employment by Government of married women, especially those whose husbands are in Government service, in cases where it is necessory to employ such married women on account of their special qualifications or suitability or lack of qualified single women an allowance at the rates laid down in (iii) should be paid to the wife even though the husband is also drawing an allowance at the rates set out in (i) or (ii).

(v)

A dependent child for the purpose of high cost of living allowance should be interpreted as meaning a son under the age of 18 or an unmarried daughter under the age of 21.