§ MR. PICKERSGILL (Bethnal Green, S.W.)asked the Secretary to the Treasury, Whether there are certain officials, styled "extra messengers," employed by the Board of Customs at a remuneration of 3s. per diem when on duty; whether these officers receive an additional 6d. per diem after five years of continuous service; whether their pay is deducted when they are not on duty from any cause whatsoever; whether some of these officers, with service ranging from 10 to 29 years, sent a Memorial to the Board of Customs on the 6th June asking that their pay might not be deducted for the holiday which they would be compelled to take on the occasion of the Queen's Jubilee Celebration; whether their pay was actually deducted on account of the public holiday on that occasion; whether another Petition, asking for a reply to the former Memorial, was sent to the Board of Customs on the 11th August; whether a reply will be sent to either of these Memorials; and whether, in future, the extra messengers of Customs will receive pay for the Queen's Birthday, Christmas Day, Good Friday, and the four Bank Holidays?
§ THE SECRETARY (Mr. JACKSON) (Leeds, N.)The extra messengers referred to are "glutmen," usually called extra men, and they are paid 3s. a-day when employed. An additional 6d. a-day is not now paid except in the cases of certain men who were originally so employed under conditions which do not now apply to extra men in general. Glutmen are only paid when employed. The extra men in London sent into the Board of Customs on the 6th of June last a Memorial requesting that they might be granted their usual pay as if they were on duty for Tuesday, the 21st of June—which was observed as a Bank Holiday on the occasion of Her Majesty's Jubilee Celebration—although not employed on that day. As these men were not employed on this public holiday, they were, in accordance with the terms of their engagement, not paid for that day, and the Treasury has refused to alter that decision. A second Memorial was sent in to the Board of Customs on the 11th of August asking for a reply, which I will ask the Commissioners to 1371 send. With regard to the last Question, I have only to say that these extra men will be paid, as at present, for the days on which they are employed.