§ MR. J. R. KELLY (Camberwell, N.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether any Memorial has been recently received by the Treasury from the established messengers at the Custom House, praying for the redress of certain grievances; and whether, if so, he will state when a reply to it may be; expected; whether the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Customs have recently 1088 decided to fill only each alternate vacancy to the first-class messengerships; whether he will state the reason for which two vacancies in such class have remained unfilled; and whether, in view of the fact that the whole of the second-class messengers entered the Service under the conditions set forth in the Treasury Minute of 1st April, 1873, giving them the right of rising to the maximum of £90 per annum, he will take the necessary steps for the carrying out of such Treasury Minute?
§ THE SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. JACKSON, Leeds, N.)I have made inquiry, and I cannot find that the Memorial from the messengers of the Customs has been received at the Treasury. Copies of such a Memorial have been forwarded to the Treasury; but, according to the well-known rules of the Service, the signed original must be presented before the prayer of the Memorial can receive attention.