HC Deb 24 November 1884 vol 294 cc273-4
MR. KENNY

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, If he was correctly understood to have stated that Mr. Clifford Lloyd is at present in receipt of the pay and allowances of a first-class Resident Magistrate in Ireland, although his functions in that Country practically ceased in 1882; if at the time his attention had been called to an answer given by his predecessor on July 28th of this year to the Junior Member for Wexford County, reported in Hansard, as follows:— Mr. Lloyd is not at present in receipt of any sum from any Irish Vote, nor, so far as I am aware, from the Revenues of the United Kingdom. The last payment made to him from the Vote, out of which the salaries of Resident Magistrates are provided, was up to the 18th of September, 1883."—(3 Hansard, [291] 647.) and, if he will now state the grounds upon which Mr. Lloyd has been replaced in receipt of pay and allowances?

MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN

There is no inconsistency between anything I have said and the reply of my right hon. Friend to the Question asked on the 28th July. Mr. Lloyd has simply reverted to his original position as a Resident Magistrate, and is now enjoying a period of leave, with pay, to which he was considered entitled.

MR. KENNY

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that when I asked his Predecessor early in last Session, whether it was not a violation of the Civil Service regulations that Mr. Clifford Lloyd should be absent without a medical certificate of illness, that the Chief Secretary replied— A medical certificate is not requisite under the regulations of the Civil Service, unless the leave granted to the officer be sick leave which allows pay. Leave without pay is often granted Civil servants for their own private business on due cause being shown to the head of the Department. And are we to conclude from this either that Mr. Clifford Lloyd is now absent on sick leave, which allows pay, or that he has satisfied the head of his Department that the urgency of his private affairs entitles him to leave of absence with pay?

MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN

Mr. Lloyd is at present in the enjoyment of three months' leave, with pay. He was entitled to that because he practically served in 1880 without any leave.

MR. KENNY

I want to know from the right hon. Gentleman, is it not a distinct breach of the regulations of the Civil Service that any person in the position of Mr. Lloyd should be absent on leave, and at the same time be in receipt of pay without due cause being shown?

MR CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN

I am not aware there is any such Civil Service regulation.

MR. KENNY

I am aware that there is.

MR. O'KELLY

Will the right hon. Gentleman state whether Mr. Clifford Lloyd's absence in Egypt was not a prolonged leave of absence and a very remunerative one as well?

MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN

It was not a leave which would enable him to recover his health. It was not one ensuring any leisure.