§ MR. FRASER-MACKINTOSH (Inverness-shire)asked the Secretary to the Treasury, Whether he will be good enough to state in what document the conditions of service are set forth by which the clerks in the Office of the General Register of Sasines at Edinburgh may be expected to give additional attendance without extra remuneration; whether the "usual condition" on which the hours of said Department are fixed (referred to on page 11 of the Treasury Minute of 27th March, 1881) 1599 is the usual condition respecting additional attendance throughout the Civil Service; whether, in the other branches of the Service liable to periodic increases of work (such as the Post Office, &c.) extra remuneration is given for additional attendance; and, whether the clerks (including the Assistant Keeper) in the Sasines Office, who were required to give additional attendance to overtake the arrears of work caused by the extra pressure of the Whitsunday term, will be remunerated according to such usual conditions?
§ THE SECRETARY (Mr. JACKSON) (Leeds, N.)The conditions of service by which the clerks in the Office of the General Register of Sasines at Edinburgh might be expected to give additional attendance without extra remuneration are contained in the Treasury Minute of March 27, 1881, under the heading "Hours of Attendance." The salaries sanctioned by that Minute were fixed in view of the fact that the pressure of work varied during the year, and they were intended to cover the performance of all the work of the Department, although it should entail attendance in times of pressure beyond the usual office hours. The question of payment for extra duty is one that the Treasury is obliged to deal with on the merits of each, case; and even if such payments are made in the Post Office it does not follow that they must necessarily be made in every other Department whenever extra attendance is required.