TNAG-0007-FCO40-43-Governorship-of-Hong-Kong-1968 — Page 23

110

Alet

R VED W

*55 No.53

1506.08

HILIA

Mr. Christofas

CONFIDENTIAL

:

Governors

Reference..

R3rd

Y. 1/2

PA on file

Emoluments

118)

Av. Camara

AG1510

I am sorry not to have been able to reply to your minute of 6 August enclosing a draft to the Treasury.

I hope it will not be thought to indicate ingratitude for all the trouble which has evidently been taken, if the following comments seem to strike at some of the roots of the exercise, but they are points which seem to me to need considering if this has not already been done.

2. First, the statistical basis of comparison. Paragraph 11 of the draft letter and table A in the Appendix appear to imply that the comparison is being made solely in terms of salaries. Should not the basis be broadened to reflect the nature of a Governor's job and the wider, though very varying

Governors basis, on which most Governors are remunerated?

are par excellence representational and have to maintain a

Their large house and corresponding establishment. emoluments usually include four elements:-

(a) salary proper

(b) allowances of various kinds including

entertainment allowance

(c)

domestic staff (different colonies provide out of public funds different amounts, both absolutely and proportionately, of the cooks and gardeners, and so on, required

to run a Governor's house, the balance of

which the Governor has to provide out of his own pocket, i.e. as a concealed deduction from his salary)

(a) fringe benefits like motors cars

{

(again a minimum is unavoidable and the

balance has to be paid by the Governor personally)

暂

In addition, in the particular case of Gibraltar, there is a fifth element, because the Governor is also Commander-in-Chief and a serving soldier. As a General on the Active List, he enjoys certain perquisites like the services of military drivers and batmen, details of which could only be ascer- tained locally but which are probably quite significant. In my experience, practice in all these matters varies widely and quite irrationally from one colony to another, with a natural tendency for the larger colonies to treat their Governors better than the colonies which have suffered Treasury control of their finances. Local politics also come into it because some elected Ministers are cheese-paring and Governors may be driven to meet more out of their own pockets through à natural reluctance to their fringe benefits become a matter of controversy in the Legislature. suggest that the only fair statistical basis for the exercise would be one which takes all these variables into account. This could almost certainly not be done solely in London without consulting the territories.

I

3. Secondly, having arrived in this way at a comprehensive statement of the true nett emoluments of each Governor, is it fair to make a comparison between them purely in cash

CONFIDENTIAL

/terms