TNAG-0472-FCO40-537-Hong-Kong-government-policy-on-education-1974 — Page 123

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or three children would have a better chance of obtaining a quarter than an officer without children, although this is evened out to some extent, because not all Government cuarters are large engish for a family and some are not conveniently located in relation to schools. On the other had an officer with longer previous service or egeiving a higher salary would probably be better aced in compet- ition with an officer with the same number of children, though the points system is arranged that the

20 officer who has spent a lower period in an hotel is awarded points at a higher rate than one who has only recently gone into an hotel. In very general terms it could be said that it would be unusual for any newly-appointed officer to get a Government quarter in less than a month, even in the summer; in the winter family man might have to stay in a hotel for iree to six months, a married couple even longer. Officers should budget for these conditions as hotels in the Colony are relatively expensive and the charges for meals, laundry, tips etc, can absorb a large proportion of an officer's salary, perticularly if he has a large family (see X (v) for hotel subsistence allowance).

(~) This perseraph is only intended to rive an outline of quartering matters, and on arrival in Hong Kong officers are provided with a detailed guide to quartering procedure which deals with the quartering allocation and points system, the rules applicable to payment of hotel subsistence allowance, the private-tenancy scheme and such matters as the transport of personal offsets to and from quartors.

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN FOR LEAVE AND PASSAGES

On arrival in Hong Kong (or on assumption of duty by a locally appointed officer) a newly-appointed officer is required to declare a "Country of origin for leave and passage purposes". "Country of origin" means the country declared by the officer as being his country of origin and accepted as such by the Establishment Secretary at the time of his appointment.

10. LEAVE OF ABSENCE AND LENGTH OF TOUR

I.

Vacation leave

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The officer will be on what are known as the "new leave terms" If the officer completes his tour of service, or if his services are terminated by the Government (see Section 16) for reasons other than misconduct, he may be granted, at the Discretion of the Government, vacation leave as follows:

Officers under the age of 40 (unless) over the age of 35 and with an aggregate of 10 years' Colonial Service)

Officers who have attained the age of 40 regardless of length of service, or are over the age of 35 with an agre- gate of 10 years' Colonial Service

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