TNAG-0534-FCO40-629-UK-aid-to-Hong-Kong-Polytechnic-and-technical-institutions-1975 — Page 78

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outside, involving a third change when there was a place in the

official school for his district. Mr. Street had also had financial

embarrassment with his hotel bill, but all his problems could have

been disposed of if he had had the initiative to take them up with

Mr. Smith his Principal, instead of waiting for a visitor from

TETOC. Mr. Collins was hard up financially because under Hong Kong

rules his increments depended on the number of years' experience since

he took his basic qualification, and not since he began teaching, as

would have been the case at home. This gave him a poor salary

relativity with junior Chinese colleagues.

27. For purposes of recruitment feed-back, I was surprised at the

comment on Mr. Harper (who is in theory earmarked for promotion to

Principal Lecturer), but it is a question of early days in which the

department has not got going and it may be too soon to judge. A3

regards Messrs Street and Collins, I thought both were somewhat

colourless and lacking in imagination at their interviews in February,

but Mr. Kingwell and Mr. Smith, both of whom were members of the panel

were so emphatic in their favourable verdicts, that even on the basis

of hind-sightedness it would not have been justifiable for me to have

urged rejection.

28 In general, morale was higher in Government employed staff than

at the Polytechnic and I met three people (two English and one Chinese)

who had transferred from the latter. It was clear however that

everybody (and especially the more junior staff) find Hong Kong

extremely expensive, more so than they expected before they arrived

Inflation is moreover running at approximately the same rate as in

Britain.