The MARQUESS of CHANDOSsaid, he begged to ask the right hon. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the petition of the civil servants of the Crown (presented on the 3rd December, 1852) had been yet under the notice of the Government, and whether any and what stops had been taken to inquire into the allegations and the prayer thereof?
§ The CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERsaid, he was obliged to the noble Lord for giving him this opportunity of answering the question, because he thought it appeared from the anxiety on the subject that the answer which he had given to a former question on the same subject could not have been fully apprehended. What he had intended then to say, and what he very gladly restated now, was, that the subject of the petition of the civil servants of the Crown had been and was 216 under the consideration of the Government. He hoped he would not be understood, by so saying, to be giving any pledge as to what the result of that consideration might be. It was necessarily a somewhat slow process. When the petition was presented, it did not contain the fundamental computation of debtor and creditor account on which the prayer was founded; and a very considerable time elapsed before that computation came into his hands. It had now, however, been put into a train for examination, and, when the facts should be understood, the matter would be fully considered by the Government, as it was a matter of considerable importance, bearing essentially upon the interests of the public service.