§ MR. PICKERSGILLI beg to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, in view of the great inconvenience which is occasioned in the several Public Departments by the existence of vacancies in the staff, and the stagnation of promotion which has occurred since the appointment of the Royal Commission on Civil Establishments, the Treasury will expedite the settlement of the various establishment questions now under their consideration, and sanction the promotion of those clerks of the Second Division who have already been recommended by the Heads of their Departments under the new Regulations set forth in the recent Treasury Minutes and the Order in Council?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER (Mr. GOSCHEN,) St. George's, Hanover SquareThe Treasury has been busily engaged upon these questions, and material progress has been made towards their settlement. But the reduction of various establishments to a fixed cadre, in accordance with the recommendations of the Royal Commission, is a matter concerning which a great variety of opinions may be legitimately expressed, and which demands the most careful adjustment. The promotion of Second Division clerks to the upper class in that Division and to staff posts, must necessarily depend on the schemes adopted for the entire Departments, as it is these schemes which will determine the classification and distribution of the work.