§ SIR A. K. ROLLIT (Islington, S.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether there exists in any other Department under his 1418 control any such Order as that recently issued in the Prison Department, prohibiting testimonials or subscriptions being raised among the officials under any circumstances; and, whether lie will consider the advisability of recommending the withdrawal of such an Order, as appertaining to a Civil Service Department?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. H. H. ASQUITH,) Fife, E.The Metropolitan Police Orders provide that subscriptions or testimonials from police officers are not to be received by officers removed from one district to another if they are still serving in the Police, and the Prison Department Order, copying that rule, prohibits the receiving of testimonials by any officer while in the service, or of subscriptions on transfer from one station to another, or any other occasion. In services of this kind it has been found to be undesirable that an officer should receive testimonials or subscriptions from other officers who may come under him as subordinates; by doing so he would put himself under an obligation to them which might not always be compatible with the strict discharge of his duty. The rule does not apply to the case of officers leaving the service.