§ MR. STEWART WALLACE (Tower Hamlets, Limehouse)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will state what number of Second Division Clerks on the Foreign Office Establishment have been appointed to staff posts, as recommended in the Report of the Royal Commission on Civil Establishments of 1890; and 628 also the number who have been specially promoted to the Higher Grade?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Sir EDWARD GREY,) Northumberland, BerwickNo clerk in the Second Division has as yet been appointed to a Staff post as, in consequence of reductions, there has been for some years no vacancy in such a post to fill up. The question of the steps to be taken for carrying out the recommendations of the Royal Commission when such vacancies occur is under consideration. Clause 16 of the Order in Council of March 21, 1890, provides that a clerk in the Second Division, when his total emoluments reach £250, shall be forthwith placed in the Higher Grade if certified by the head of his Department to be thoroughly competent. One clerk only, Mr. Wallis, has fulfilled the condition as to amount of salary, and has been promoted to the Higher Grade. Paragraph 2 of Clause 6 of the same Order in Council provides, that as a very exceptional cases a specially meritorious clerk may, with the sanction of the Treasury, be promoted to the Higher Grade, although he is in receipt of salary amounting to less than £250. There has not yet been any opportunity of recommending a Second Division clerk for special promotion as a very exceptional case under this provision.