MR. GIBSON BOWLES (Lynn Regis)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, with reference to the 10th Clause of the Order in Council of loth August, 1890, which makes retirement from the Public Service obligatory for every officer on attaining 65 years of age, but leaves power to the Treasury, at the instance of a Department, to extend an officer's employment for a further period in no case exceeding five years, whether the Comptroller and Auditor General has construed this Order as applying to all Departments of the Public 74 Service, and endeavoured to enforce its observance upon them; and whether the accounting officers of eight Departments —namely, the Diplomatic and Consular Service, the House of Lords, the House of Commons, the Supreme Court of Judicature (England), the Courts of Session and Justiciary (Scotland), the Crown Solicitor's and Sessional Crown Solicitors' (Ireland), the Supreme Court of Judicature (Ireland), and the Dublin Metropolitan Police Magistrates have one and all refused to send in any age Returns on the ground that the Order in Council does not apply to them?
§ SIR J. T. HIBBERTThe answer to the first question is in the affirmative. It is also the fact that age Returns have not been received from the Departments referred to in the second paragraph. The whole subject will very shortly be dealt with by the Public Accounts Committee.