Note 11 — Chapter LII · VLADIVOSTOCK.

A comparison of the salaries of the clerks shows the English company to pay a higher rate. The English company has 25 European clerks, independently of Japanese, Chinese, and Portuguese subordinates. The European clerks begin at a salary of £320 a year, and go on to £420, after which they ascend to higher offices and shorter hours as superintendents, etc., and rise to £800 a year or more. In the Russian service a clerk begins at £2 12s. a month if speaking only Russian, and receives £2 10s. a month extra for each new language acquired. A first-class clerk has about £120 a year, with a house and perquisites; and even a superintendent receives only £280, with the like additions, part of which consist of rye meal or flour. I heard one man say he bought up this meal of his fellow-clerks to give to his horse and chickens. They also receive travelling-money periodically. I was favourably impressed with the bearing of the telegraph officials throughout Siberia. In some cases they live a most secluded life. At Busse, for instance, I met one who had been shut off from the world in that tiny place on the Ussuri for nearly ten years, hoping to realize a pension of £36 a year. The English company gives a pension, three-tenths of salary after 10, one-half after 20, and seven-tenths after 30 years’ service.