§ SIR JOHN COLOMB (Tower Hamlets, Bow, &c.)asked Mr. Chancellor of the 1515 Exchequer, Whether the fixed hours during which officers of the out-door department of the Customs have heretofore been required to remain on landing and shipping duty without extra remuneration—namely, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. for eight months, and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. for four months of the year—were recently extended at Liverpool, Hull, and Grimsby; and, whether these alterations are to be regarded as experimental; and, if so, whether he can give any assurance that this experiment will not be confirmed and extended to other ports until it has been clearly established that such alterations do not involve any extension of the afore-mentioned hours of labour without additional remuneration?
§ THE SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. JACKSON) (Leeds, N.)(who replied) said: In answer to the Question of my hon. and gallant Friend, I beg to explain that it is not intended that any officer of the out-door Department of the Customs should be required to work on the average a larger number of hours than hitherto. The case really stands as follows:—Hitherto they have, as a rule, been required to give attendance from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in summer, and from 9 to 4 in winter; but it has been found that a great portion of the work required to be done in the busier ports has to be done between 6 and 8 in the morning and between 4 and 6 in the afternoon. The present hours of attendance, which were fixed many years ago, are no longer applicable to the general course of trade and to the requirements of the shipping community. The difficulty has hitherto been met by extra remuneration being given to the Custom House officers by the merchant, for working between 6 and 8 and between 4 and 6; but it is believed that by a different distribution of the hours of work the system of overtime, which is liable to many abuses, may and ought to be, to a great extent, remedied. It is believed that the aggregate work is no more than can be performed by the existing staff of officers working on the average eight hours a day. If the officers consider themselves aggrieved, their grievance will be not that they are asked to work more hours a day for the same remuneration (for that is not the case), but that they lose the chance which they have hitherto had of earning overtime money within the extended hours. I 1516 understand that in some cases this overtime amounts to a considerable addition to the salary; but it is surely impossible to contend that the shipping and trading public should be called upon to pay for overtime when, by a more intelligent arrangement and distribution of work, such overtime would not be necessary.