ENG-1957 — Page 417

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HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT

One of the most noteworthy developments in the Public Service since the war has been the large increase in the number of local officers in the more senior posts (Classes I and II), mainly as a result of greater local recruitment to senior administrative and professional appointments in the Education, Medical and Public Works Departments. In 1951 there were 54 local officers and 448 overseas officers in these Classes; in 1957 there were 391 local officers and 662 overseas officers in the same grades. The proportion of local officers has thus risen from 10.75% to 37% in six years. The increase in the number of overseas officers has been due principally to the need to keep pace with the ever- increasing development of the Colony, which cannot be delayed until local training schemes in the University and elsewhere are able to produce enough graduates to meet all the demands of the Public Service as well as those of private enterprise. There are also 676 overseas and 10,956 locally appointed officers in Class III, making a grand total of 1,338 overseas officers and 11,347 local officers in the three classes.

Salary Structure. Broadly speaking, the post-war structure of the Public Service, including its salary scales and general conditions of service, has been based upon the Report of the 1947 Salaries Commission. One of the Commission's recommendations led to the formation of a Conditions of Service Committee which met during 1948-50 to resolve anomalies arising out of the Commission's Report and which in turn was replaced by the Public Services Commis- sion itself. The Lo Committee on cost of living allowances also supplemented the 1947 Commission's Report by devis- ing a system of variable cost of living allowances to replace the temporary system proposed by the Commission. In 1951 the Government consolidated a proportion of cost of living allowance into basic salary. In 1952 a new system for the calculation of basic monthly salaries over $200 was intro- duced, which, by substantially increasing those allowances, to some extent restored the situation existing before the 1951