MR. FORREST EULTON (West Ham, N.)asked Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, having regard to the fact that, under the terms of the Treasury Minute of the 22nd of December, 1886, it will take 42 years for a Civil Service writer to obtain the maximum amount 90 of bonus of £50 a-year, and that, as the minimum age of a writer being placed on the register was 18, he would be 60 years of age before reaching such maximum, and as most of them were considerably older than 18 years when first employed, Whether, under these circumstances, he can hold out any hope of reducing the number of years it now takes to reach the maximum bonus of £50, so as to place it within the reasonable expectation of the majority of writers now employed?
THE SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. JACKSON)(who replied) said (Leeds, N.)The question of the rate of payment of copyists was most exhaustively considered by the Treasury before the Minute to which the hon. Member refers was issued; it has since been considered by the Royal Commission on Civil Establishments; and I am unable to move in the direction indicated by my hon. Friend.