§ MR. JOHN KELLY (Camberwell, North)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether it is the fact, that in the early part of last year, a number of Civil Service writers serving in the Outdoor Department of Her Majesty's Customs were recommended for promotion under the Treasury Minute of December 1886; whether these writers were afterwards transferred to the Statistical Department of Her Majesty's Customs to meet the exigencies of the service; whether, on the completion of the work there, they have been informed that their services are no longer required; and, whether, in consideration of the long services, averaging 13 years, of these men, he will take steps to retain them in the service of Her Majesty's Customs, and give effect to the recommendation made on their behalf by the head of the department?
§ *MR. JACKSONThe copyists referred to by my hon. Friend were not recommended for promotion to the lower division by the Commissioners of Custom; they wore transferred to the Statistical Department as' stated in the question. The services of some of them are no longer required in the Statistical Office, and the copyists in question will therefore be returned to the Civil Service Commission for employment in other offices. As other arrangements have been made for carrying on the work in the Out-door Department on which these copyists were formerly employed, there is no necessity for retaining them in the Customs service.