CO129-612-1 Police Department- petition from European memebers of Inspectorate 21-1-1947 - 17-2-1948 — Page 31

30

no38

their status to that of a sub-inspector or inspector,

and the duties to which they are assigned depend

wholly on their own abilities to carry out the duties

of a sub-inspector or inspector".

The proposed reply would appear to be

equitable and just having regard to the fact that to

give preferential treatment to the Home recruited

officer would undoubtedly leave other members of the

force with further grievances and would react against

the efficiency of the force as a whole.

Point 3. The contention of the petitioners

that their full previous police service had not been

taken into account when assessing the point of entry

into the Hong Kong salary scale is dealt with by the

Governor in paragraph 6 of the despatch.

The suggestion by the Commissioner of Police

that a fair method of calculating the initial salary

would be to count half of the previous approved

service as a basis for assessment, has been

considered by the Governor and his final recommendation

is shown in the latest telegram which suggests that

the reply on this point should be "it is not

considered that a ease has been made out for departing

from the approved method of calculation which was

used in the assessment of initial salaries of those

officers and accepted by them on appointment".

This decision seems to be just and

reasonable having regard to the fact that any

re-adjustment of salaries of one particular group of

the Force would almost certainly cause anomalies

which in turn would provide material for grievances

by another group. It is possible that the Salaries

Commission report which recommends an alteration in

the scale, in an upward tendency, will go some way

towards