§ MR. PATRICK O'BRIEN (Kilkenny)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, (1) whether in December of last year a petition was received from the Ridley Clerks of the Second Division praying for a revision of their scheme of salary, and, as nearly eight months have now elapsed since the receipt of this petition by the Treasury, whether a reply can be given immediately; and, (2) whether, in the consideration of this memorial, the Treasury will endeavour to remedy the practice which exists in the Government service whereby a junior clerk of the Playfair Second Division, who may be only two years senior to a Ridley Clerk of the Second Division, receives a salary of over £50 a year more than the latter, although both are generally employed on the same sort of work in the different Government offices, and, in addition to this, the former receives £7 10s. whereas the latter only receives £5 annual increments.
§ THE SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. R. W. HANBURY,) PrestonA reply to this memorial is about to be despatched. As regards the latter paragraph of the question I would refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my predecessor to an almost similar question on the 13th June last. That answer was as follows:—
The salary of the Second Division was fixed in 1890, after very full consideration by the Royal Commission. The Government has 534 no intention of altering it. The scale previously in force has been given to no one since employed, but it cannot be taken away from clerks then serving. A clerk on the new scale who serves till he is 65 will have received in salary £1,700 more than if he had been paid on the old scale.