§ MR. ARTHUR O'CONNORasked the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether, having regard to the great discontent which prevails among the officers of the Inland Revenue Department, as evidenced by the sentiments expressed at meetings held by those officers in the various Excise Collections throughout the Kingdom, he is prepared to appoint a Committee of independent persons, unconnected with the Treasury, to inquire into the constitution of the Board of Inland Revenue and the system under which that Board's business is conducted, and into the grievances put forward as regards office accommodation, salary, &c, in their recent Petition to the Lords of the Treasury; and more especially with respect to the statement that, in the bonded warehouses throughout the Kingdom, officers of Excise and of Customs who are of the same rank, and who are employed side by side on exactly the same work, are paid on widely different scales of salary?
MR. GLADSTONE, in reply, said, that the Board of Inland Revenue, upon the recommendation of the Treasury, had allowed seven days' additional leave 1979 to Excise officers of a certain number of years' service. He could hold out no expectation that the Government would he able to accede to the suggestion made in the Question.