§ MR. WEBSTER (St. Pancras, E.)asked the Secretary to the Treasury, Whether it has been called to his attention that the flow of promotion from assistants of Excise to second class officers has been materially chocked, and that it now takes from seven and a-half to 10 years instead of five years, as estimated by the Secretary to the Treasury on the 12th of April, 1886; and that, at the present time, out of a total of 775 assistants of Excise no fewer than 450 have already served from five to seven and a-half years without being promoted; and, if he proposes to take any steps to reorganize the system by which this stagnation in promotion in the lower grades of this Service may be obviated?
§ THE SECRETARY (Mr. JACKSON) (Leeds, N.)A similar Question was addressed to the Chancellor of the Exchequer by the hon. Member for 242 West Belfast (Mr. Sexton) on the 8th of September last, and I have nothing to add to the reply then given. I may, however, observe that it is clearly impossible to carry out any reorganization of a Public Department, with any intention of reducing expenditure, without affecting the rate of promotion in the junior ranks.