§ MR. J. A. M. MACDONALD (Tower Hamlets, Bow)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether an assistant clerk in the Civil Service who obtains promotion to the next higher grade suffers thereby a loss of salary; and whether it would in many cases involve a service of over 15 years in the higher grade before the clerk's salary reached its old level; if so, whether he proposes to take any steps to remedy this anomaly?
§ *SIR JOHN HIBBERTThere is no direct promotion from the class of abstractors or assistant clerks, and there is no next higher grade. An abstractor, like any body else, may be appointed to the second division, but if so, he must, by the provisions of the Order in Council of the 21st March, 1890, commence at a salary of £70. No person has been appointed to the second division at so advanced an age as to render possible the loss of salary mentioned in the second paragraph of the question, and it is very unlikely that such an appointment could take place. I am not prepared to recommend an alteration of the Order in Council at present, but whenever the time for generally reviewing its provisions arrives, that now in question will be considered with the rest.