§ MR. PAUL (Edinburgh, S.)I beg to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education whether there is any reason why the attendants in the Science and Art Museum at Edinburgh should be treated less favourably than those at South Kensington, first in receiving as their highest rate of pay 8d. an hour instead of Is., and secondly in attaining that rate only by chance when a vacancy occurs, and not after a term of years as a matter of right; and if there is no sufficient ground for maintaining the inequality, whether he will give South Kensington terms to the attendants at Edinburgh?
§ MR. ACLANDI believe the facts mentioned in the hon. Member's question are substantially correct. The pay of the attendants in the Science and Art Museum in Edinburgh was settled with the Treasury in 1874, and I presume the scale was then fixed bearing in mind the relative cost of living, &c, in Edinburgh and London respectively. But I will inquire into the matter, and if necessary I will apply to the Treasury for a modification of the present scale.