(To yes EOITOR or one "Sescrason."1 Ssa,—Your article in last
week's Spectator dealing with the salaries of Civil Servants gives such an erroneous view of tile matter that I am constrained to send you the actual facts. That there are huge numbers of useless bureaucrats who are living upon the body politic I do not deny, but that is a matter of policy for which Parliament is (or ought to be) responsible. But there are other Civil Servants concerned with the ordinary business of the country who have been employed for a considerable number of years and to whom the war and the consequent depreciation in the purchasing power of money has been and still is a great hardship. Salaries in the Civil Service have always been low compared with those paid for similar work outside. The following figures should go far to correct the erroneous impression conveyed in the article referred to:— Rate per
Ordinary War 1120511 cent. of Salary. Bonus. Bonus. War Bonus on Salary.
.. 92
.. 76
.. 68 .. 64 .. 60 57 .. 54
It will be seen that even in the case of a salary of £200 the war bonus is only 92 per cent., while in the case of a salary of £500 it is only 64 per cent. Income Tax has also to be taken into account. Under the new scale a man receiving a salary of £500 if married and with one or two children would pay only £25 in Income Tax. The war bonus which is intended to meet the increased cost of living to some extent increases the amount of the Income Tax to £110. The Civil Servant, far from bene- fiting by the financial upheaval due to the war, is even, with the war bonus, very hardly hit and has to deny himself all but the barest necessaries in order to live and educate his Shildren.
The Spectator is always just, and I trust you will take an early opportunity to correct the misleading impression whirls you have I believe unintentionally conveyed in your editorial.
£200 .. £183 17 8 .. £7 1 5 £300 .. £228 17 0 .. £8
16 1
£400 .. £273 17 6 .. £10 10 8 £500 .. £318 17 8 .. £12 5 3 £600 .. £383 17 6 .. £13 19 11 £800 .. £453 17 6 .. £17 9 2 £1,000 .. £543 17 8 .. £20 18 4
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