§ MR. SEYMOUR KEAY (Elgin and Nairn)I beg to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with regard to the reply recently given to the Memorial from the outdoor officers of the Customs Department, to the effect that the Treasury refuse to re-open the question of the alleged grievances of the Memorialists on the ground that these have been already dealt with by the late Chancellor of the Exchequer, in a Minute dated 24th March, 1891, whether he is aware that that Minute does not deal with the chief grievance urged by the Memorialists—namely, that since the salary of their grade was fixed they have come to be employed on entirely different work, requiring a high degree of intelligence and involving largely increased responsibility; and whether Her Majesty's Government will now institute an inquiry into the claim of the Memorialists to increased salary?
§ THE SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Sir J. T. HIBBERT,) OldhamMy right hon. Friend has asked me to answer this question. I have satisfied myself, by personally reading the evidence and proceedings before the late Chancellor of the Exchequer, that the question of the salaries of outdoor officers of Customs was fully and specifically considered by him, and I cannot admit that the question was not dealt with in the Minute referred to. On the contrary, that Minute expressly declares that the concessions made must be held to cover the whole ground. In these circumstances, there is no ground for instituting a further inquiry.