§ MR. F. PLATT-HIGGINS (Salford, N.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether any steps are in contemplation to secure to the first and second class prison clerks the prospects held out to them by the notices in The London Gazette, of 9th September 1879, under which they paid an examination fee of £3, to be charged only when the probable maximum salary is £400, or not exceeding £450 per annum; and (2) are the classification and annual increments such that it takes these gentlemen 25 years to attain a salary of £200 per annum, and that there are three classes senior to them, the maximum of the highest of which is but £300 per annum?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Sir MATTHEW WHITE RIDLEY, Lancashire, Blackpool)As regards the question of the examination fee, I can only refer the hon. Member to the answer given last April on the subject, by the Secretary to the Treasury. That answer was to the effect that the fee was fixed at £3 because there were posts of the maximum value £400 and upwards to which the clerks could be promoted without further certificate from the Civil Service. Commission, but that the payment of the fee gave the clerks no claim to rise to a salary of that, amount before retirement. I may say, however, that, as the result of a recent, re-organisation, among other improvements that have been made, in the position of the clerks, the number of more highly-paid posts to which they are eligible for promotion has been increased, and promotions, in fact, have already been made. The answer to the second part of the Question is in the affirmative, except that the maximum salary of the highest of the three classes referred to is £300, with a house, or an allowance of £26 in lieu.