Sessional_Paper_1938 — Page 246

242

Report.

69. After careful consideration we have come to the conclusion that the scale of salaries recommended in the Gollan Report of 1929 was needlessly high.

Resolutions of Senate and Faculties.

The Senate resolved:-

(a) That it does not agree with the Com- mittee's conclusion that the scale of salaries recommended in the Gollan Report of 1929 was needlessly high.

(b) That it should be remembered, in assess- ing the adequacy of the Gollan scales, that the same Commission which recommended these scales also recommended; with the same back- ground of local conditions, scales now in force for Government officers.

(c) That, whereas in dismissing, as needless- ly high, the salaries recommended in the Gollan Report of 1929, the committee considered (1) cost of living in Hong Kong, (2) standard of living which it is desirable for a University staff to maintain, and (3) problems of recruiting; nevertheless there is another factor specially in- dicated in the Gollan Report which should also be considered: namely, as stated in that Report, "The University must offer not only a salary which will enable a member of the teaching staff to live in reasonable comfort, but also the prospect of an adequate income on retirement ".

(d) That the proposals put forward in para- graph 74 of the Report by the University Com- mittee (1937) fall very short of meeting these requirements, especially as regards provision for retirement in the case of members of the staff who joined before 1930.

(e) That the present superannuation scheme, even if supplemented by savings, which in the existing circumstances are difficult to effect, does

Resolutions of Council,

Resolved that the Council would favour an experiment towards recruiting professors and lec- turers for appointments hereafter to be filled on the following scales:

Professors

Readers

Lecturers

Junior Lecturer in Eng- lish (three year ap- pointments)

£1,000-25-£1,250

£ 700-25-£1,000 £ 550-25-£ 850

£ 500-20-£ 540

provided that the Provident Fund provision be amended so that a man recruited at about 30 to a professorship might retire at the age of 55 with a sum of not less than £10,000 to his credit in the Provident Fund.

In connexion with the above basic salary scales the question was raised whether there would be any elasticity in their application. The meet- ing was in general agreement with the position that if a man of exceptional qualification or ex- perience should offer for a vacancy he might be recruited on a salary commencing at some point in the approved scale above the commencing salary, but that his salary should not ultimately exceed that of the maximum on the approved scale.