§ MR. JAMES ROWLANDS (Finsbury, E.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury with regard to the writers in the Out-door Department of Customs (some of them of long service) now being dismissed from the Department, who were sent from their permanent employment to temporary duty to meet a pressing emergency, and, on the completion of the latter, were refused permission to return on the ground that the duty they had been engaged on had been completed; whether such dismissal is intended to exclude such writers from the benefits which the forthcoming Order in Council will confer on those writers serving in other branches of the Customs?
§ MR. CUNINGHAME GRAHAMI wish also to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether it is a fact that the usual Annual Statement of Imports and Exports, which is prepared for the Board of Trade in the Statistical Department of the Customs, was offered as overtime to the writers in that Department who are in receipt of 1s. per hour; whether these writers unanimously refused the account, upon the ground that they were offered less remuneration for overtime, namely, 10d. per hour, than they were in receipt of for the normal official day; and whether, as the result of their refusal, a number of the writers who were engaged in the outdoor department of the Customs, and whose services range from 8 to 18 years were removed from their posts, and transferred for the convenience of the Statistical Department, and placed upon the preparation of the annual statement; whether they have recently been informed that they will be returned to the Civil Commission, thus breaking their prolonged service at a critical juncture, and run the risk of depriving them of any benefits which may be conferred upon their class under the im- 1645 pending Order in Council; and whether, in view of the circumstances referred to, some assurance can be given that, in the event of their return to the Civil Service Commission, they shall not be sufferers by the transfer?
§ MR. JACKSONThe preparation of the annual statement of trade necessitates the temporary addition of copyists to the Statistical Office. It is ordinary work, and always paid for at the rate of 10d. per hour. It was offered to some of the copyists in the Statistical Office who are paid at the rate of 1s. an hour for certain special work, but they asked to be allowed to decline it, because the rate of pay was less than the 1s. an hour which they are paid for the special work in the normal official hours. The work was then given to copyists employed in the outdoor department. These copyists will, on the conclusion of the additional work in the Statistical Office, be returned to the Civil Service Commissioners, from whom I learn that work can speedily be found for them in other Departments.
§ MR. J. ROWLANDSMay I ask whether it is not a fact that some of the gentlemen who have been appointed to work on these statistical abstracts have been in the service of the State for a long period of years, some of them 20 years, and whether these persons are about to be dismissed?
§ MR. JACKSONThere is some misunderstanding about that. It has been decided that the work on which these writers have been employed will be better done by some other officers. When a Department has completed a certain work on which it has been engaged, the necessary order is made, formally dismissing all the writers who have been engaged on the work for the time being. It is well understood that although these writers may have been employed for a great many years, they are not in the permanent service of the Department, but are being temporarily employed, and it is quite open to any Department, having completed its work, to dismiss the writers engaged for that purpose. As a matter of fact, I understand that the Civil Service Commissioners have been on some occasions rather shorthanded, and I do not anticipate that there will be any difficulty in finding employment for these writers, 1646 nor is it intended to inflict any penalty on these men by dismissing them.
§ MR. J. ROWLANDSAre we to understand that these men, who are under notice to leave to-morrow, will not be turned out of the Service?
§ MR. JACKSONI think it may be taken that a notice from a Department with regard to the work of that particular Department does not amount to notice to leave the Service entirely.
§ MR. C. GRAHAMAs this constitutes a great grievance to this class of men, I must press for an answer to the last two paragraphs of my question, namely, whether it is contemplated by the Civil Service to deprive these men accidentally or otherwise of any of the benefits their long service may have entitled them to, and whether, secondly, some assurance will be given that, in the event of their return to the Civil Service Commission, they will not be sufferers by the transfer?
§ MR. JACKSONI do not think I ought to enter into any engagement. I have endeavoured to explain the circumstances. The hon. Member refers to some benefit which may have come to these men under an impending Order in Council. It would be obviously wrong for me to give any pledge on the subject.