§ MR. LAWSON (St. Pancras, W.)I beg to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether clerks of the Second Division, who, under Clause 12 of the Order in Council, dated 21st March, 1890, are eligible for promotion to the First Division after eight years' service, will receive the scale of pay fixed for the third stage of the First Division by the Royal Commission and approved of by the Treasury Minute, dated 10th August, 1889, namely, £200 to £500 by annual increments of £20; and whether 976 it is intended to put into practice the "marking time" provisions of the Treasury Minute, dated 31st October, 1889, so as to defer the benefits accruing in proportion to length of service?
§ MR. GOSCHENThere is no intention of departing from the Treasury Minute of August 10, which laid down that the scale of salary recommended by the Royal Commission for the Higher Division should only be regarded as a maximum, and that the present varying scales should be, at any rate, temporarily maintained. A clerk of the Second Division appointed to the Higher Division will, therefore, not be necessarily placed upon a general scale of salary rising from £200 to £500, but will be placed upon the scale of salary obtaining in the Department in which he may be promoted. The Minute of October 31, 1889, will be modified on the lines of the principle adopted in the recent Order in Council.