Sessional_Paper_1948 — Page 23

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HARDLYING ALLOWANCE

50. Hardlying allowance is at present payable to Police officers stationed in the New Territories, to the crews of Police cruising launches and to boarding officers and assistant inspectors of junks when on duty afloat in connexion with typhoons or other emergencies. We see no justification for the payment of hardlying allowance to any Government officer permanently stationed in the New Territories or outlying parts of the island such as Cape D'Aguilar provided that reasonable use of Government transport is permitted to enable him to make periodic visits to Hong Kong or Kowloon. Nor do we consider that hardlying allowances should be paid to the crews of Police cruising launches or to Harbour Office employees on duty afloat. We recognise, however, that such officers have their homes ashore and are in consequence put to extra expense when on duty for over 24 hours at sea and we recommend that they should receive field allowance.

FIELD ALLOWANCE

51. The present scale of field allowance set out in General Order 104 and the conditions under which it is payable appear to us to require revision. When an officer is compelled by the nature of his work to sleep away from his headquarters he may reasonably be expected to incur additional expenditure on food, particularly if the period during which he is away is a short one. In addition he may or may not be put to additional expense in respect of sleeping accommodation. An inspector of vernacular schools inspecting an outlying part of the New Territories might, for example, incur additional expenditure in respect of both board and lodging, but a Police officer on a cruising launch would not be put to any expense for his lodging while afloat. We recommend, therefore, that in future field allowance should be redesigned to cover the additional cost of food while an officer is compelled to sleep away from his headquarters and that a separate lodging allowance at appropriate rates should be granted to officers who are compelled to pay for overnight accommodation.

BOOT ALLOWANCE

52. We recommend the abolition of boot allowance and the issue instead from Government Stores on an approved scale of boots or shoes of suitable pattern.

ENTERTAINMENT ALLOWANCE

53. We have received representations from several Heads of Departments who are in the course of their official duties called upon to entertain visiting officials of other Governments, that an entertainment allowance should be provided for in their departmental votes from which they or officers of their departments could be reimbursed for expenses incurred in official entertaining. Except in the case of His Excellency the Governor, we are opposed to the introduction of departmental votes for entertainment but recommend the provision of funds for official entertainment to be controlled by the Secretariat from which officers can be reimbursed for approved expenditure. It would, in our opinion, place Heads of Departments in an invidious position if they were themselves to control departmental votes for this purpose.

CHARGE ALLOWANCE AND ACTING PAY

54. We understand that during the Military Administration and for some time after the resumption of civil government, when many officers were on recuperative leave, the practice arose of paying charge allowances to certain officers not eligible for acting pay who had to undertake greatly increased responsibilities. While such a system was unavoidable in the abnormal circumstances of that period, the Commission is opposed to the payment of charge allowances. The responsibilities of many posts are liable to vary according to circumstances and when responsibilities temporarily increase, most officers welcome the opportunity presented to them of displaying their capabilities. If there is a permanent increase in responsibility we consider that there is a case for the upgrading of the post. Difficulties have arisen in the past mainly because of the application of acting pay rules. We understand that officers on dollar salaries were not normally granted acting pay when taking the place of officers on sterling salaries. Any difficulties previously experienced in this regard will disappear if our recommendation is accepted that all basic salaries should be expressed in Hong Kong dollars. We further understand that it is difficult to apply the acting pay rules in cases where the salary scales of two grades overlap and an officer in the lower grade who is called upon to act in the higher grade is already on a salary higher than the minimum of the higher grade. The present salary of the Chief Officer, Prisons Department, is £550 to £700 per annum and the minimum salary of the Assistant Superintendent of Prisons is £500 per annum. Although the Chief Officer would