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Paragraph 5. The conditions of service for expatriate Police Officers have been very considerably improved not only in respect of emoluments but also in regard to leave. Long leave is now granted to Police officers after four years' service following first appointment instead of after five, and Police officers who have had ten years' service and have reached the age of forty now serve a three year tour instead of having to wait until they have served for twenty years and reached the age of forty-five. It is not understood in what respect the Salaries Commission's recommendations "have accentuated the discomforts and disadvant- ages which work in the tropics is liable to entail". The argument advanced appears to be purely rhetorical. While on leave Police officers in common with other subordinate officers who formerly enjoyed certain privileges in kind now have those privileges reflected in their enhanced salaries, which suffer no abatement in respect of quarters etc. unless the officer is actually on duty in the Colony.
Paragraph 7 The petitioners complain that they have received inadequate compensation in their revised salaries for the discontinuance of certain privileges which they formerly enjoyed. The allowances in lieu of free furnished quarters and fuel and light have been incorporated into salary and Police officers benefit thereby not only while on leave but also in respect of eventual pension. The rents which are being charged for quarters and furniture are well within officers' means under the revised salary scheme. The maximum rents charged on basic salaries varying between $400 a month and $960 a month (i.e. between the minimum and maximum basic salaries of the Inspectorate) run from $55 a month to $120 a month but in most cases Police officers who are required to occupy quarters in connection with their work are charged less than the rent normal for their salary range. The charge for furniture is at present 5% of the rent paid but will be increased to 10% when the Stores Depart- ment is in a position to supply the full approved scale of furniture. Even then the charge will only amount to between $5.50 and $12 a month for members of the Police Inspectorate.
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The cost of fuel and light is taken fully into account in the cost of living allowance and if Police officers were allowed to retain their former privilege which I do not recommend an appropriate deduction would have to be made from their cost of living allowance. No retrospective recovery has in fact been made in respect of fuel or light consumed by Police officers in 1947 or during part of 1948 but officers are now paying for what they consume.
An allowance is still paid to Police officers and men who incur extra expenses in connection with duties afloat on Police cruising launches. It is no longer styled Hardlying Allowance and is at rates designed to compensate for the extra cost of living afloat for short periods and maintaining families ashore at the same time. Hardlying allowance in respect of service at outstations in the New Territories, was in fact a form of field allowance (which was introduced in respect of certain temporary Police posts on the border when the Japanese were on the other side of the frontier, andcontinued after the reoccupation when lawlessness was rife and no proper quarters existed, has been discontinued, since the retention of this allowance is not now considered to be justified. Transport facilities are however granted so that officers stationed in the New Territories may spend their days off in Hong Kong or Kowloon.
Paragraph 8. The method by which the percentage increases of 1948 total emoluments over those of 1941 have been calculated appears to be erroneous. Any figure for the value of free fuel and light consumed in 1941 is invalid for 1947 or 1948. It is not understood how the figure of $143 for the value of free furnished quarters in 1941 and 1946 is arrived at. Such a figure should vary with an officer's rank and salary, which
determine/
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