TNAG-0735-FCO40-939-Policy-objective-for-the-developing-of-Hong-Kong-in-the-1980-1978 — Page 63

5

11.

The task of managing the Government machine has

now become so complex that there is in my view a need to

employ more professional administrators, and I foresee a wider

use of Administrative Officers outside the Government

Secretariat as more become available.

12.

I welcome the constructive views expressed by

Mr Cheong-leen, Dr Fang, Miss Dunn and Mr Wong Lam on

the need for a salaries commission, or other suitable.

machinery, to help resolve the salary and structure problems

which have recently been giving rise to unwelcome friction

within the civil service.

13.

Our present class structure and salary scales

are based on the recommendations of the 1971 Salaries

Commission. These have served us well, but, inevitably,

as the years pass and circumstances change the need to

review them grows stronger. Certainly, the aspirations

of civil servants seem to me to have changed markedly in

recent years, as has the social and economic environment

within which the civil service operates.

14.

As Dr Fang has pointed out, the present arrange-

ments for settling pay and structure problems within the

civil service are no longer effective. They may well have

been appropriate when the service was smaller and less

complex, when staff associations were fewer and less

active, and when management was still able to take most

decisions with little or no consultation with staff.

/most....

But