ENG-1972 — Page 291

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CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION

Overall responsibility for recruitment, promotion, training and conditions of service in the Public Service is exercised by the Establishment Branch of the Colonial Secretariat.

An event of considerable importance occurred on November 17, 1972. Married women in the Public Service had previously been employed only on a temporary month-to-month basis. As a result of legislation amending the Pensions Ordinance, marriage is no longer a bar to pensionable service and married women are now eligible for the same basic terms of service as single women.

During the year, the salary structure and conditions of service in the Public Service were substantially revised when most of the recommendations of the 1971 Salaries Commission, under the Chairmanship of Sir George Mallaby, KCMG, OBE, were implemented. The most significant of the recommendations adopted was a new salary structure based on occupational groupings replacing the previous system of model salary scales.

Conclusion

The system of public administration described in this chapter is an unusual one for a sophisticated community such as Hong Kong, but it is well suited to local conditions and the economic and social progress made since the war indicates that it works with a substantial degree of efficiency. The government, though prevented by its peculiar situation from following a normal pattern of constitutional development, nevertheless attaches the greatest possible importance to ascertaining and, as far as practicable, meeting public aspirations and needs.

The structure of the government is by no means static, and institutional and organisational developments still continue on a pragmatic basis to meet the needs of an exceptionally resilient and robust community.

The government of a territory unique in the 20th century poses problems to which neither history nor practice elsewhere provide solutions, but which will continue to be tackled in a vigorous and imaginative way.