§ LORD CLAUD HAMILTONasked the Secretary to the Treasury, Whether the Treasury have yet arrived at any decision in reference to the memorial from the Liverpool Customs Clerks, dated last May, asking the equality, hitherto allowed, with clerks performing analogous duties in London; and, if so, in what manner it is intended to improve the recent classification which has entirely failed to give satisfaction to the clerks of the second class, who complain that, whereas the clerks in London and other outports were materially benefited by the re-organisation, not a single case of promotion was effected by it at Liverpool?
§ LORD FREDERICK CAVENDISHSir, I must say, in the first place, that although the re-organization did not give any immediate promotion to the clerks at Liverpool, I cannot admit that they received no benefit by it. I should be prepared to give the details on which this opinion is founded; but it would be difficult to make scales of salary intelligible within the limits of an answer. With regard to the Memorial, I find that the reply of the Treasury was, by some inadvertence, not communicated to the memorialists by the Board of Customs. Upon the application of the memorialists for the transmission of their Memorial to the Treasury, they were informed that it was proposed in future, instead of confining promotion to the limits of their own establishment, to make the second-class clerks at Liverpool eligible for advancement to higher posts at the outports generally, and the second-class clerks at other outports eligible for first-class clerkships at Liverpool. The chances of promotion were thus, to a great extent, equalized throughout the service; and the Treasury expressed their satisfaction with the arrangements, by which they considered that the complaints of the memorialists were adequately met. I understand that the effect of the arrangement already has been that two Liverpool clerks have obtained promotion, which they would not otherwise have had. Under the new scheme, 55 may rise from £80 to £250; the difference of number is due to the writers who may become clerks. Under the old system the progress from £230 to £540 17 was broken twice at £340 and £440. Under the new scale there is only one break at £400 between £265 and £600, and this break is in four instances at £450, including duty pay, instead of £400. The change involves an average increase of more than £2,600 per annum.