§ MR. MACDONA (Southwark, Bermondsey)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether he is aware that the stretch of river from London Bridge to Surrey Dock Buildings is practically unguarded after 6 p.m., only one boat's crew being employed after that hour in; protecting the Revenue, and whether, during the repair of the hulk Harpy, the headquarters of the Customs river station, it is intended to provide accommodation for the officers elsewhere; whether the increment of 2s. 4d. per week lately conceded by the Treasury is to be regarded as a final settlement of the claims of the waterguard staff; and whether, in view of the hardships and privations to which boatmen are subjected to, the Treasury would consider the advisability of exempting officers of 30 or more years' service from 24 hours' continuous duty?
§ SIR J. T. HIBBERTThe Board of Customs are of opinion that sufficient guard is provided for the protection of the Revenue in the river from London Bridge to Surrey Dock. The officers temporarily removed from the Harpy are accommodated at the Custom House and Surrey Dock, pending a permanent arrangement. The position of the boatmen has been recently improved by the grant of a better increment, and by giving compensation for the loss to particular men by the abolition of classification, though that change had been made at the boatmen's own request. I am not aware of any circumstances of special hardship and privation, and I am afraid that I cannot recommend the re-opening of questions exhaustively dealt with personally by the late Chancellor of the 1389 Exchequer, after the most careful scrutiny of evidence from all classes, in the Minute of the late Board of Treasury, dated March 24, 1891.