Page
172
THE HONGKÒNG WEEKLY PRESS AND
Defence. Next year the proportion will be and the minimum of the 5th and 4th by 19.69. This important increase, which dates two increments, while there is a. gap of from some 10 years ago, was not entirely at the five increments between the maximum of the desire of the Colony but the Military Contri- 4th and the minimum of the 3rd. A man bation fixed by ordinance can scirea'y ba who has reached the maximum of the 4th class regarded as an unreasonable payment for the may have to wait some y ars without increments Imperial Troops stationed at Hongkong, from before receiving promotion to the 3rd, and with whom the Colony derives some indirect as it an addition to his salary of six increments. It well as direct advantages. Finally, on Public would be better if be received further increments Work, to which only 14.05 per cent.in the 4th class aud only one additional one ou of the total expenditure was devoted in 1881. we propose to spend 31.94 per cent. iu 1906, a notable and satisfac ory increase.
ECALE OF BALARIES FOR SUBORDINATES.
$
promotion to the 3rd. The foregoing defects are obviated by the adoption of the system of grading slown on the following table:
Period in
which
maximum
salary of Grade could be reached & enjoye Ifor
1 term.
Years.
Salary.
Maxi-
inuan.
Incre. ments.
$
$
Oth
240
4:0
$. 60 annually
n
thi 48)
66)
60 annually
1
40
720
001
(0 annually
4
961
1,20) 1,2 biennially 6
3rd 2nd 1,32) 1st 1,08
'There is one point with regard to the Esti- mites for Expenditure to which it is necessary to revert as I fear Honourable Meubers may find it a little difficult to understand from the
Where as
Grade. Mini.. a large documents before them. number of the clerks are shown under the different classes of the, Classification Scheme adopted in 1801, all those of the Post Office except a few entitled to Exchange Com; eosA- tion, all those of the Harbour Department, of the Magistracy with the exception of the Interpreters and of the Department of the Inspector of Echools, and a few clerks in other Departments, are shown under one of six grades. The grades repres. nt a new scale of salaries which is b.ing gradually introduced in place of th: salaries under the old Classification Scheme, complete adherence to which was not found possible. That scheme provided eight classes, os which the conditions as regards salary com- mencing with the lowest class were the follow. ing: Class VIII-84) to $120 by 860 bieonial increments, in which the maximum salary of the Class could be reached and njoyed for one term in eight years. Clasf
VII-$48) to $6 0 by
in- $6) biennial crements, in which the maximum salary of the Class could be reached and enjoyed for on
1,56) 1,20 biennially 6 2, 40 1.2) biennially 8
This scheme starts from the same minimum
($10) as the existing classification scheme bat goes to a slightly lower maximum ($2,04) ia place of $2,09). It provides the en- couragement of annual instead of biennial increments in the three lower classes and while retaining the bieunil incr ments in the upper classes doubles the amount of them. he maximum salary of cach class is separated from the minimum salary of the clas; above it by the amount of one increment. The system offers to a young man with the necessary (ducational qualifications who joins either of the lowest classes the chance of fairly regular pro. Of course there motion throughout his car, er.
term in sit years. Class VI-8660 to 8844 by will be miny cases of a clerk when he has
$60 biennial increments, in which the maximum salary of the Class could be reached and enjoyed for one term in eight years Class V-8960 to -$1,080 by $60 biennial increments, in which the maximum salary of the Class could be reached and enjoyed for one term in six years. Class IV-1,200 to $1,500 by 860 biennial increments in which the maximum salary of the Class could be retched and enjoyed for one term in 12 Class III-1,800 to $2,100 by $60 y:-ars, biennial increments, in which the maximum salary of the Class could be reached and enjoyed for ons term in 12 ye rs. The two higher Classes need not be co:sidered as the apį oint- ments in them with one or two exceptions had been made prize appointments with s'erling £alaries. The defects of this system are as follows:-(1). The long period required to gain increments in the junior classes and the small- ness of the increments in the senior classes make the increments of little moment to clerks. A man who has served about a year will scarcely take the prospective rise of $60 at the end of another year as an inducement to continue in the Sav.c should any other employment be offered to him. Iater on an averaga rise of $30 per annum seems out of proportion to.slaries of 32 to 70 times that amount. the (2).
ia The unsystematic variation puiods taken to pass from the minimum to the maximum salary in the various clases tends
against the continuous promotion from class to For class which is an incentive to work. instance the fact that in the 7th and 5th classes the maximum is attained in four years while iu fhe 6 h and 4th classes it is only attained in six and 10 years respectively tends to create unnecessary blocks in the 7th and 5th classes. (3). The impossible length of time required to .pass by regular promotion from the bottom to the top of the list must deter promising young men from joining the Service unless they cu do so in au upper glass over the heads of men already serving to the discouragement of those nien. The greater number of educated men be induced by the chances of con- tinuous promotion to join in the lower classes the greater will be the general efficiency of the Service. (4) The varying gaps between the salaries of the different classes are further
continuous advancement. checks to maximum salaries of the Sth and 7th classos and the minimum salaries of the 7th and 6th classes differ by one increment, the and 5th maximum salaries of the 6th
that can
|
reached the maximum silary of his grade not being considered suitable for promotion to a higher one and being passed over by othe s ol better qualifications when vacancie: occur in the higher grade. This may tend to the dis. appointed man lea: ing the Service but it will ba be.ter to occasionally lose those men who Lave proved themselves unsuited for promotion than to have constantly to accept the resigna- tions of the best of the junior clerks. Theoreti cally I have no doubt that the grading schem is an improvement on the Clasification Scheme But a mere theoretical advantag› woull not have been sufficient justification for any change and certainly not for a change involving some increases in expenditure unless there were some practical need for it, and reasocable grounds for believing that it would eff-ct a practical The practical need for the improvement. scheme was demonstrated to me by the fact that before my arrival a schem had been
submitted to the Secretary of State for a new system of saltres for the Post Office Staff, which differed not only fro a the system
then in force bat a so from the Classifica
tion Scheme that lad never been introduced into that office and that the grounds for this submission were that higher inducements were necessary to retain the services of the jauior men in the Post Office where more clerks wo10
employed than in any other of the Government Departments. My lelief that the adoption of the scheme would effect a practical improv, ment is based on the success which a similar one had met with on the Gold Coast, whe e fr quent charges in the subordinate staff were checked by the introduction of a logical and consecutive scale of salaries. The Secretary of State has left to my discretion the extension of the scheme
which now first appears in the estimates as con. venient opportunities occur for applying it to various Departments or in particular appoiut ments. An extension of it which will i troduce a logical basis into the scheme of sterling salaries is engaging my attention.
GENERAL POLICY.
This sys'ematization of salaries, involving in some cases increases to them, should tend to improve the personnel charged with the General The Administration. At the same time I should b1 loth to see the proportion of establishment charges to the work done for developing the Colony agaiu increase to anything like the old figures, and proposed addit ons to staff will
[September 9, 1905,
be very carefully scrutinised. As business increases it is however necessary to allow sɔmɔ increase in establishments and to provide suit- able accommodation for them, and I mach look to the completion of the new buildings giving the increased Post Offie Stiff a bitter chancs ***
of overcoming the special difficulties it has to contend with here. Passing from Genral Admininistration to the important Dspart- ment of Public Holh I can follow no bəttəər policy than that of my able pred cessor who first enlisted the o operation of the Chines community in keeping clean this overcrowded city, a po iog to which the steady d:creas in the general death rate in late yours can I
The Thinkfairly be attributed.
n cessarily heavy expenditure wo incur on Sanitary measures is much more satisfact rily employed in the prevention than the cure of diseas, and I have accepted with willingness the suggestion of the Principal Civil Medical Offer to trans ́er certain items which formerly appeared under special pligue expenditure to the part of his estimates which provides for the perisant sanitary work. With re,ard to another meins for improving the sanitary condition of the City of Victoria, vic.:-the resumption of insanitary property, I intend to consistently follow the policy that was adop'el'before I came to the Colony. I may mention here a branch of the servic, whose work has som> in- flu'nce on the Public Health, the Botanical and Afforestation Department. More system is Leing introduced into the further afforest - tion of the Island, and the afforestation of New Kol on and the planting of the Kowloon Roads
come
to U}
.
are to be undertaken on defiuite and continuous plan Public Instruction, judging from its flickering history, as it has been clearly set forth in a paper written by the pres at Inspector of 3cho s for the Board of Educa'ion at home, is one of the most difficult Departments on which to frame a policy for Hongkong. In that paper Mr. Irving aptly compared the attempt to fis the standard of education of the Colony with its constantly changing population to a
haring Cross Hotel. On the whols I am attempt to raise the educational level of disposed to the belief that greater good will be attained by giving a sound Western Education to a moderate proportion of the boys who for it than by imparting a smattering of English and Western knowledge to a large number who, left to themselves, would probably pick up as much of it as they require for the purposs of wo.kig la shops or offices and would in any event receive the Chines training which few of the Cantonese allow their children to lack. For the main- lenauce of Public Order a good systoni exis!s which I should be sorry materially to alter. In our peculiar situation close to the most populous City of China we cannot allow aliens to settl in our midst if they prove themselves to belong 'or giva strọng grounds for th› presumptiou that they belong to the criminal class. We must also keep up a Police Ferce much larger han is required in Colonies differently situated and maintain a strong British element in that Force. Further we must, with regard to the 100,000 inhabitants in the corner of rural China that has in recent years come under our jurisdio- tion, maintain a somewhat paternil rule and prevent the dissatisfaction which would arise if harassing legal proceedings with referenc to their petty land affairs took the placi of the old oppression by Yamon runners. The question of the maintenance of internal order leads naturally to that of defence,, I intend to use such influeLo as may have to secure the maintenanc, in the Colony of a
Garrison sufficiently strong to prevent it being
raided in war by hostile cruisers while His Majesty's ships are employed in their proper work of hunting out and destroying the squadrons of the enemy. For the efficiency of
that Garrison and the defences they are to man wo can repose full confidence in the General Officer Commanding. In any mitter that the Colony can properly ive assistanca to him I am sure he can count on that asi tandı. L may mention here t'a a permanent settlement of the difficult military land questions which have been under discas-ion since the cession of Kowloon will, I believe, be arrived at very shortly, a result largely due to the good work done by Mr. May in the mat er. (Applause).
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