706961-1869-GOVERNMENT-NOTIFICATION-NO-30 — Page 2

THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 20TM MARCH, 1869.

Mr. Hamilton to Sir F. Rogers,

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TREASURY CHAMBERS, 15th December, 1868. SIR,-I am desired by the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury to request that in laying before the Secretary of State for the Colonies the enclosed copy of their Minute of the 39th ultimo, on the subject of cases of Bankruptcy or Insol- vency, on the part of Members of the Civil Service, you will state that my Lords invite his co-operation in giving effect to the views therein expressed.

I am to observe, that in their Lordships' opinion it would be for the interest of the Civil Service that the regulations which they have proposed should be adopted as a general system.-I am, &c.,

Treasury Minute, dated November 30, 1868.

(Signed) G. A. HAMILTON.

The attention of this Board has been frequently given to cases of bankruptcy and insolvency on the part of persous holding offices in the public service, and likewise to a practice which has been found to prevail, to some extent, amongst Clerks and others, of putting their names on what are called accommodation bills, and thus getting themselves involved in the pecuniary difficulties

of others.

My Lords have reason to believe that there are persons, discounters of bills, who, taking advantage of the inexperience of young men usually when they first enter into the public service, and inducing them to put their names on bills, supply them with inoney at exorbitant rates of interest, in the expectation that by threats of the exposure and consequent dismissal of these young men, their parents or other relatives may be induced to discharge these exorbitant demands.

It has been the anxious desire of every Department in the State of late years, and Parliament has liberally co-operated, to raise the Civil Servants of the Crown in efficiency and general estimation; but it is obvious that all efforts on the part of Govern- ment or the Heads of Departments to raise the standard of the Civil Service, must be to a great extent unsuccessful so long as members of the Service thus allow themselves to be involved in pecuniary difficulties, and to become the victims of usurious money lenders. It is unnecessary for my Lords to point out that this pernicious practice must be destructive of those feelings of honour and independence which my Lords are happy to state are, and their Lordships trust will be always, characteristic of all classes of Her Majesty's Civil Servants. The young man who puts his name upon a bill for a sum of money, suffering a discount which sometimes amounts, as my Lords are informed, to 50 or even 60 per cent., must necessarily lose all feelings of independence and self-respect; he becomes the miserable dependant of the usurer who has ministered to his extravagance; his course must be down- wards, and he too frequently resorts to the meanness of an untruth, in the hope of concealing his indiscretion or extravagance.

Very painful instances have occurred, in which, from these causes, my Lords have been obliged to dismiss from the Civil Service of Her Majesty, gentlemen whose abilities and attainments might have raised them to high positions.

But the practices referred to lead to further and serious public inconvenience; not only does the general character of the Service suffer materially, but the value of the individual officer is necessarily deteriorated by the position in which he is placed in consequence of such improvident habits, As observed in a Minute of the Board of Stamps and Taxes, dated the 23rd of June, 1862, "an efficient performance of his official duty is not to be expected from any person involved in pecuniary difficulties, as the time and thoughts of such a person, instead of being engaged in his official business, must necessarily be occupied in constant efforts to meet the exigencies of the day: and further, it is highly inexpedient that any officer in such circumstances should be placed in a position of trust."

Not unfrequently the pecuniary embarrassment of an employé in the public service is the cause of absence from his duties, either with the view of avoiding the importunity of his creditors or of obtaining protection under the Bankruptcy Act. And where such protection is accorded, independently of the inconvenience and discredit to the service, as is well observed in a Minute of the Board of Customs of 9th April, 1866, "the officer is placed by this course in a very difficult position, as it generally happens that upon the final discharge of the party, the Court orders a portion of his salary to be appropriated to the liquidation of his debts, varying in amount according to the circumstances of each case. By this course the public service is damaged. The officer upon his return to duty is called upon to act, very probably in a responsible situation, with diminished salary, dispropor- tional to the value of the service required of him, and with a character in some manner impaired."

It is the firm determination of the Board of Treasury to adopt every means within their Lordships' power for correcting such evils as these in the public service, and with this object my Lords have caused to be prepared, for the guidance of the Depart- ments subordinate to this Board, the accompanying Rules, founded upon those which have been long in existence in the Revenue Establishments and in the Audit Departments. Their Lordships desire that these Rules may be transmitted to all public Depart- ments, in the hope that, by an uniform course of action in sucli casos by the Heads of Offices, an effectual check may be placed upon the practices referred to.

My Lords, however, appeal with confidence not only to the Heads of Departments and gentlemen of experience and posi- tion in the Civil Service, but to the junior members of the Service themselves, to co-operate with them in repressing the evils to which they have reforred.

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Appointments in the Civil Service, at the very outset, are now made the reward of merit. Promotion by merit is the esta- blished rule in the Service, and to every young man who becomes the servant of the Crown in the Civil Service, a way to independence and even eminence.

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But my Lords are desirous of impressing upon the members of the Civil Service that, in proportion as these advantages are increased, in the same degree does it become imperative as a duty, and one which my Lords on their part are, to the utmost of their power, resolved to discharge, to maintain rigidly the moral standard of the Service and the independent position of its members.

My Lords are fully aware that there are cases in which pecuniary embarrassments are the result of causes beyond control. A gentleman in the Civil Service with a small salary may unavoidably fall into difficulties from sickness in his family, or from other similar causes; there can be no discredit în such cases, and there will be found no indisposition to treat then with the consideration they deserve.

The Rules which my Lords would enforce and recommend for general observance are as follows:----

1. That it is to be understood that serious pecuniary embarrassment, from whatever cause, must be regarded as a circum- stance which necessarily has the effect of impairing the efficiency of a public servant, and of rendering him less valuable than he would otherwise be.

2. That such embarrassment, if occasioned by imprudence or other reprehensible cause, will be held to be an offence, as affecting the respectability of the Service, and the trustworthiness of the individual; any person who has so conducted himself will be considered to have forfeited that honourable position in the Service which is necessary to give him a claim to promotion or increase of salary from length of service; and these benefits will not be permitted to accrue to him again until he shall have relieved himself from the discredit of such a position. Aggravated cases of this description will be noticed whenever they become known; and such measures will be taken either in the manner above adverted to, or in a manner more summary and severe, as the circumstances may appear to deserve.

3. That the mere fact, under whatever plea, of becoming a party to accommodation bills, whether for his own purposes, or for another person, and whether resulting in pecuniary embarrassment or not, will subject a Civil Servant to the consequences described in the preceding paragraplı.