Sessional_Paper_1911 — Page 7

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HONGKONG.

FREE PASSAGE SCHEME FOR SUBORDINATE OFFICERS.

No. TIT

1911

Laid before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Governor, February 23rd, 1911,

The Governor appointed on the 9th October, 1908, a Committee consisting of the Director of Public Works, the Captain Superintendent of Police and the Postmaster General "to consider the petition from certain officers of the Public Works Department and to make recommendations for a scheme whereby subordinate European Officers in all departments might be granted half-pay leave and free passages every 5 years or so without expense to Government: the scheme to embrace bachelors and married officers with wives and children (as in the Police): and the Committee to consider further whether it is not feasible to extend the scheme to future appointments in the Police also ".

HONGKONG.

No. 201.

I.

GOVERNMENT HOUSE, HONGKONG, 9th June, 1910.

MY LORD,--With reference to Lord Kimberley's Despatch No. 68 of the 2nd June, 1871, I have the honour to forward for Your Lordship's consideration the enclose I copy of a letter (Enclosure 1) from the Director of Public Works, dated the 30th September, 1908, covering a petition from the Overseers on the Permanent Staff of his Department asking that the Government should defray, in whole or in part, the cost of the passages of them- selves, their wives and families to and from the Colony, with a view to enabling them to take leave periodically at reasonable intervals.

2. Sir F. D. LUGARD appointed Messrs. W. CHATHAM, F. J. BADELEY, and C. Mcl. MESSER a Committee to consider this petition, and I have now the honour to forward a joint report (Enclosure 2) by these officers dated the 5th of April with its enclosures, advocating that Subordinate European Officers in the Service of the Colony should suffer a deduction of 24 per cent. per annum from their salaries and that after 5 years and 3 months' service, they should be granted 9 months' half-pay leave with a maximum of 34 free passages, upon the distiuct understanding that, if this privilege is granted, no acting pay or distribution of salaries would be permitted. It should be explained that acting appoint- ments in the Subordinate ranks of the Civil Service are rarely made and that distribution of salaries is not frequent.

3. Your Lordship will observe that Mr. MESSER calculated that on the basis of the subordinate establishment in November, 1908, the cost of the scheme to Government after deducting 24 per cent. of the Officers' salaries would be nil and that the deduction would only amount to £446-5-8. In their report of 5th April the Committee notice the possibility of earlier marriages being encouraged by the adoption of the scheme, in which case the cost would be increased and a larger deduction would have to be made.

It is probable that this anticipation is well founded but I do not anticipate that the cost would rise very much above the sum mentioned. In these circumstances the question arose whether it is worth while to impose any deduction at all from the salaries of officers as a contribution to the scheme. Such deductions, as the Widows' and Orphans' Perision Fund Scheme has proved, are very irksome especially to bachelors and render any scheme un- popular; and it was suggested, and the suggestion received the approval of Sir F. LUGARD, that the deduction might be omitted. It is urged that the cost to Government by such remission would be inore than compensated by better service on the part of subordinate officers and by avoidance of constantly recurring applications for increase of salary.