§ 7. Mr. HICKSasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he has ascertained from the Governor of the Straits Settlements and the High Commissioner of the Federated Malay States whether there is any obstacle against the putting into force of the Workmen's Compensation Act in both Colonies; and whether he can state when the administrative orders will be applied?
§ Sir P. CUNLIFFE-LISTERI consulted the Governor by despatch after the hon. Member put his question to me on 20th December last. There has not yet been time for me to receive the Governor's reply.
§ Mr. HICKSWill the right hon. Gentleman pursue this matter; and can he indicate when I may repeat this question with the hope of getting an answer?
§ Sir P. CUNLIFFE-LISTERI can give an answer to the hon. Member when I have received the reply from the Governor.
§ 8. Mr. HICKSasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he can give the names of the selection board for the cadet services of Malaya; what qualifications are demanded of candidates; and whether there is any racial discrimination?
§ Sir P. CUNLIFFE-LISTERThe Malayan Civil Service is now part of the Colonial Administrative Service, and its personnel will in future be selected under the general system in force for that service. Selection is entrusted to the Colonial Appointments Board.
§ The members are:
- His Majesty's Civil Service Commissioners for the time being;
- Sir Horace A. Byatt;
- Sir Walter Buchanan-Riddell;
- Mr. Charles Goldschmidt:
- Captain Philip Lonsdale; and
- Mr. C. W. B. Prescott.
§ The Chairman is the First Civil Service Commissioner (Sir Roderick Meiklejohn). I may add that it is my intention to add to the board an experienced retired officer of the Eastern Cadet Service. Owing to the many-sided nature of the work of the Colonial Administrative Service, no rigid qualifications, other than age, are of deliberate purpose, set down. The established rule, so far as concerns personnel recruited in this country for the Colonial Administrative Service, is that "Candidates must be natural-born British subjects of pure European descent on both sides." There are, however, facilities in the Colonies themselves for the appointment of locally-recruited personnel to the service.
§ 9. Mr. HICKSasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is aware that recruitment of the Civil Service cadets of the Federated Malay States is by selection rather than by competitive examination; and what steps he is taking to put this recruitment on a competitive basis?
§ Sir P. CUNLIFFE-LISTERThe reasons for my decision that recruitment for the Malayan Civil Service should in future be carried out by the selection system instead of by the competitive 353 examination previously in force were given in my reply to the hon. Member's question on 20th December, 1932. I have no intention whatever of returning to the system of competitive examination.