Our reference: Your reference:
SA 216/01
Dew Karmich
RESTRICTED
w's caster
MINISTRY OF OVERSEAS DEVELOPMENT
Eland House, Stag Place, LONDON S.W.1 Telegrams: Ministrant, London, Telex
Telephone: VICtoria 2377, ext. M'L, F. Horny
El circulate coper
to all who received the
119
McCarter
تماما
For information
16th September 1968
296 A
previous pp and resubmit
25.9.68
Thank you for the copy of your minute and attached draft of the 9th September about Governors' emoluments. We have been interested to study these ingenious proposals. I am afraid, however, that we find some difficulty in supporting them.
2.
The proposals attempt a general reappraisal of Governors' salaries but in offering a formula for revising them they seem not to take account of some important considerations. The first of these concerns the purpose of Governors' salaries. It has been normal in the past to fix Governors' salaries and entertainment and similar allowances at the same time. We think that this is natural and proper as it has been the consistent view that a major purpose of a Governor's salary has been to provide him not simply with emoluments to meet his private expenditure but also with a substantial recurrent payment towards the expenses of his office. While there is no firm rule attached to this, we believe it will be found that there has been a recurrent assumption that a Governor might be expected to spend some two-thirds of his emoluments in living in Government House; and the entertainment and similar allowances also paid to him have taken account of this order of contribution from the Governor's salary.
3. This draws attention to two other factors of importance of which your proposals seem not to take account: local living costs and taxation. There is clearly a great difference between living costs in the three most expensive dependencies, Hong Kong, Bermuda and the Bahamas and in the others, including Fiji. This in itself suggests that a table which assigns a higher salary to the Governor Fiji than to the Governors of either Bermuda or Bahamas shows distortion.
The fact that you then propose to ignore the conclusions of your table in relation to the Bahamas and Bermuda, does not we think strengthen the case for the rest of the table.
4. We do not understand how your comparisons have taken account of the fact that Governors' salaries are not subject to tax. The state- ment in your seventh paragraph that the salaries of the Governor Fiji and the High Commissioner Western Pacific are now less than those of their senior subordinates, suggests that you are comparing the gross (i.e. subject to tax) salaries of these subordinates with the tax free salaries of the Governors. In fact thet net salary at present of the Chief Secretary Fiji is £3,413 compared with the Governor's present salary of £5,550 and your recommended salary of £9,900.
5. This leads me to question the basis of your proposals set out in paragraph 11 of the draft. We do not see how a case for changes so
K. C. Christofas Esq., M.B.E. Commonwealth Office
R.205
RESTRICTED
For ademmistration of
ANG
19.9.68
Gon file
/fundamental
RECEIVED IN
VESINS. 63 A19 SER
HWA 1/13
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.