(Secretariat file No. 40/1536/46)
Staff.
No. 68.
Sir,
万2in16
20 SEP 1948OVERNMENT HOUSE,
aire 16
HONG KONG.
31
September, 1948.
21st.
trand (17)
056/7/19upfile
21056
Enclosure 1.
52
61640CR
х
I have the honour to address you on the subject of the method of assessing the point of entry on the scale for Gazetted Police officers for an officer who is promoted from the non-gazetted ranks.
2.
Your attention is invited to Sir Mark Young's despatch No. 228 of 13th December, 1946, where it was explained that in the past the point of entry on to the African scale was fixed at £760 on the basis that only Chief Inspectors would be promoted to Assistant Superintend- ent of Police. It later became necessary to provide for the promotion of Inspectors and a rule was devised whereby the point of entry on the Assistant Superintendent of Police scale was the nearest point there on to the promoted officer's salary plus £100 to compensate for the loss of certain privileges such as free quarters, etc.
3.
As a result of the Salaries Commission the scales for both Gazetted and non-gazetted ranks were revised and certain of the old privileges were abolished. It then became necessary to devise a new rule for the entry of the promoted officer to the Assistant Superintendent of Police scale. As it is now the policy to select promising Inspectors for promotion, and normally to avoid promoting Chief Inspectors, to gazetted rank, the situation arises where an officer with a limited amount of service before him may find it better to be promoted to Chief Inspector than Assistant Superintendent of Police. In order to minimise this possibility a rule for assessing the entry point was made whereby in general this point is two increments above the equivalent or next highest point to the salary on the Inspectors scale. I attach a copy of this rule with a copy of the table showing how it operates.
4.
You will observe that the salary points during the three years on probation have been included in the scale for the purpose of this rule. In your staff despatch No. 13 of 23rd January, 1948, regarding the appointment of Mr.T.E. Clunie as an Assistant Superintendent of Police in Hong Kong, you state that the normal practice in cases of promotion from the ranks is to assess initial salary by reference to the rate of a confirmed officer and not the probationary minimum.
I am not sure what rules are followed elsewhere or whether the general effect would be different from the rule at present in force here.
5.
It has been found in practice that our present rule still does not do away with the difficulty that it is financially better for an officer with a limited period of service before retirement to accept promotion to Chief Inspector rather than to Assistant Superintendent of Police. In this connection it has been suggested that the principle, used I understand in the Army, that half an officer's service in the non-gazetted ranks should count for increments on the scale for gazetted ranks might be adopted. This would produce slightly more favourable entry points except in the
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
ARTHUR CREECH JONES, M.P.
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