§ MR. HAYDEN (Leitrim, S.)I beg to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if, in the absence of the so often promised Treasury Minute, he will explain why, after the Ridley Commission had made their Second Report, and before any action had been taken thereon, the Treasury sanctioned a scheme of classification for a subordinate Department of the Inland Revenue—namely, the "Stamps and Stores Department," last November, with salaries largely in excess of those of their colleagues of equal length of service in more important branches; and, if so, whether he is prepared to say that any scheme for the amelioration of the position of the clerks in the more important branches of the Service will date from the same period as that adopted in the Stamps and Stores Department.
§ MR. GOSCHENI have never maintained that no reform in any Department, however urgent, ought to be carried out, until the Government had taken a general decision upon this very valuable Report. The re-organization of the Stamps and Stores Department was rendered necessary by legislation which threw increased work upon that Department, and it seemed better to meet the exigencies of the case by rearrangement than by simply adding new clerks, and thereby increasing the number of pension-earning Civil ser- 1348 vants. The scheme sanctioned by the Treasury was an economical one. It not only provided for the additional work, but effected a reduction of £1,400 a year on the maximum cost of the establishment. With regard to other (I demur to the expression "more important") branches, I am not prepared to give the pledge which the hon. Member asks for. The question of re-organising each separate Department must be dealt with on its own merits as the necessity arises.