ENG-1963 — Page 454

CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION

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million, which accounts for approximately 50 per cent of the estimated recurrent Government expenditure or 29 per cent of the total estimated expenditure for the year. The Service has expanded very rapidly since 1949 (before the influx of immigrants from China started), when the total establishment was about 17,500. The Establishment Committee (a sub-committee of Finance Committee) continued to examine all departmental requests for extra staff, to ensure that expansion in the Public Service is limited to the provi- sion of essential, as opposed to simply desirable, activities.

This growth has been accompanied by a determined effort to fill as many posts as possible with local candidates, particularly in more senior grades which have in the past been staffed largely by overseas officers. Between 1962 and -1963 the percentage of administrative and professional posts filled by local officers in- creased from 43.5 per cent to 56 per cent; over the Service as a whole, the percentage of overseas officers is 3.1 per cent. The nucleus of a training unit was established in the Colonial Secretariat in 1961 and has since expanded; it organizes various central train- ing courses and helps departments to plan their specialist training programmes. It ran a total of 30 central courses in 1963. Overseas training is also required, however, and 120 local officers went overseas during the year to obtain professional qualifications, many of them post-graduate. About $1,800,000 was spent on overseas training in 1963.

The Public Services Commission continued to play a valuable part in maintaining standards in the Public Service, by advising on the qualifications to be prescribed for various posts and on the selection of candidates for appointment. The Commission also takes an active part in ensuring a high standard of efficiency by advising on the passage of the efficiency bars which occur at various points in the salary scales of all officers serving on time scales who come within the purview of the Commission. Since 1961 these have not included the more junior posts, appointments to which are no longer referred to the Commission. In 1962 authority to appoint and promote staff to posts with an initial monthly salary of less than $930 ($690 for women) was delegated to departments, subject to certain reservations. This, in addition to being in accord- ance with the policy of giving more discretion to departments in dealing with junior staff, has facilitated recruitment to these posts.