§ SIR R. TEMPLE (Surrey, Kingston)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, in reference to the Rule as to the salary at which writers take up their appointments as abstractors, whether, in one office, one or more men with only a few years' service commenced at £150 per annum, whilst others in the same Department, with nearly 20 years' service, have commenced at very much lower salaries, although the duties to be performed in each case are identical; will he explain why it is that in other Offices, where the duties to be performed are also of an identical nature, some have commenced at £90, plus their bonus; in another Office the commencing salary has been made equivalent to the total earnings during the year preceding appointment, plus bonus; whilst in another Office the commencing salary of men of 10 years' service was fixed at 7s. per day, and for men of over 20 years' service at 8s. per day, although the duties to be performed in each case are of a similar nature; and whether the Government would take into their favourable consideration the cases of men of very long service, and allow all those with over 17 years' service to commence at £150 per annum, or 10s. per day, this sum being equivalent only to an annual rise of £4?
§ THE SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Sir J. T. HIBBERT, Oldham)The salaries of abstractors or assistant clerks commence at £80, but copyists appointed to those posts carry with them, according to the ordinary practice of the Service, any higher salary (not exceeding £150) that they are receiving at the time. The salary includes any bonus earned as copyists, and therefore already recognises length of service. The steps taken have been greatly for the advantage of the men concerned, and, as I stated on the 12th of June, it is not possible to make any change.