§ MR. GILLIAT (Clapham)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies whether his attention has been called to the fact that Mr. G. F. Bowen has been removed from the post of chief clerk and accountant in the Receiver General's Office, Trinidad, where he was in receipt of a salary of £400 a year; that his post was amalgamated 1592 with a lower one, and the united office was given to a junior two grades below him in the same Department during his absence, no hint of such intention having ever been given to him until it was done; can he explain why no reason has ever been assigned for passing him over, and that a copy of the Correspondence regarding it was refused; whether the Receiver General is correctly reported to have stated to the Legislative Council that Mr. Bowen was "about to retire," and on what authority he made this statement; whether he is aware that Mr. Bowen was reduced, at less than a month's notice, from a salary of £400 a year to a pension of £180, and that, after waiting for more than a year, the Governor's ultimatum on the subject is a post at £100 a year, with which His Excellency trusts Mr. Bowen will be content; and whether he can see his way to recommend the reinstatement of Mr. Bowen in a post which, with his pension of £180, may give him the equivalent of the salary of £400 of which he has been deprived?
THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Baron H. do WORMS,) Liverpool, East ToxtethIn 1889, as part of a scheme of re-organisation of the Department of the Receiver General in Trinidad, which was approved by the Secretary of State, the office of chief clerk and accountant, held by Mr. Bowen with a salary of £400 a year, and the office of savings bank accountant, the salary of which was £350 a year, were amalgamated into one office, with a salary of £450 a year, which was conferred upon the savings bank accountant, Mr. Bowen being pensioned off. Mr. Bowen was absent on leave when it was decided to abolish his office. He was informed on the 14th March, 1889, of the intention to abolish it, and the abolition took effect on the 1st of May. The reason for not appointing Mr. Bowen to the amalgamated office was that the appointment of the other gentleman was considered more conducive to the efficiency of the Department. It was not considered desirable to furnish him with a copy of the Correspondence. I am unable to say whether the Receiver General is correctly reported to have made the statement referred to in the third paragraph of the question, or, if he made it, on what authority he did so. Mr. Bowen's 1593 incomes was reduced from a salary of £400 to a pension of £180. The Governor has been instructed to give him, if possible, another appointment, and I believe Sir W. Robinson has done his best to re-employ him. The salary of the post now offered to him is £150. The Secretary of State hopes it may be possible to find Mr. Bowen a suitable post, the salary of which will raise his income to its former level.