53723/6/48.
The Church House,
Great Smith Street,
S.W. 1.
22nd May, 1948.
28
Will you please refer to Bancroft's
letter to me of the 7th May (Treasury reference IF. 272/187/04 B), about exchange arrangements to be made for the payment of pensions and leave salaries to Hong Kong expatriate officera?
The only issue between us concerns, I think, the pensions of expatriate officers already in the Sertice. As regards new entrants, the Colonial office has always felt that salaries and pensions alike should be converted into sterling at the Government rate of exchange prevailing at the time. I
en deavoured to make this clear in my letter to you of the 22nd April, but I cannot be quite certain from the terms of Bancroft's letter under reference that he fully understood the limited scope of our proposal.
As regards the proposal itself, I feel fairly sure that there has been a misunderstanding. In his second paragraph, Bancroft seems to say that we (the Colonial Office) envisage a variation in the fixed rate for which officers would be allowed to opt in the event of any serious fluctuation in the relevant value of the Hong Kong dollar and the £ sterling; and he goes on to argue that this would
D.R.SERPELL, ESQ. 0.B.E.
/nullify
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