Fiji Select Committee Wants Officers It

Carew Report

Trimmed

Fiji Select Committee Wants Officers It Can Afford

A select committee of the Fiji Legislative Council rejected a pro posal that senior civil servants should be paid pensionable inducement allowances in addition to basic salaries.

IT approved some proposed new basic salaries, but lowered sug gested changes for several posts.

The select committee’s action was later endorsed by the Legislative Council.

The salary changes were recom mended by Mr. W. D. Carew, who ■was appointed in December, 1956, to review the salaries attached to the senior posts of the Fiji Civil Service, and posts in the Fiji Police Force (July PIM, page 23).

The only two official members of the Legislative Council on the select committee, Mr. A. F. R. Stoddart, Colonial Secretary, who is about to retire, and the Financial Secretary, Mr. H. W. Davidson, disagreed with the rejection of the proposed allow

ances.

Unofficial members, when the matter was debated in the Legis lative Council, took the view that the Colony could not pay the higher salaries recommended in the Carew report.

Mr. Maurice Scott remarked: “If we can’t have first-class men then we must have what we can afford.”

Mr. W. G. Johnson said that the Secretary of State for the Colonies (Mr. A. Lennox-Boyd) appeared to be very harsh on Fiji when he had said the Colony had to pay up to get the services of certain officers.

Mr. Johnson was referring to an exchange of cables between the Gov ernor (Sir Ronald Garvey) and Mr.

Lennox-Boyd while the select com mittee was discussing the matter.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd had said, inter

alia [ • • “It will not be possible for me to nil the vacancies by recruit ment or promotion from other territories, and difficult for me to refrain from offering serving local officers transfer to more attractive posts elsewhere. . .”

The inducement allowances pro posed by Mr. Carew were in addition to the basic salaries. These ranged up to £3OO, one of which was for the Commissioner of Police Thus Mr. Carew recommended that the total salary for this officer should be £3,000.