§ CAPTAIN NORTONI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury (1) whether the question of the continuance of the present system of appointment to the class of junior examiners in the Education Department, and the desirability of recruiting that class by means of open competition, have been considered by the Commissioners of the Treasury; (2) whether their Lordships have ever called upon the Reads of that Department to fill vacancies occurring in that class by means of the Higher Division examination conducted by the Civil Service Commissioners; and, if so, on what grounds the Department have refused to comply with such request, and whether these grounds appeared satisfactory to the Commissioners of the Treasury; (3) whether the Higher Division examination referred to is adopted for recruiting the Higher Division staff of both the Colonial Office and the Treasury; and (4) whether the Commissioners of the Treasury are satisfied that the duties of junior examiners in the Education Department are so superior to those of Higher Division clerks in the two other offices mentioned that they could not be satisfactorily performed by men obtained by the same method?
§ MR. HANBURYThe question of the best system for appointing examiners in the Education Office has not been formally raised for many years—not, I 1613 think, since 1871. The Treasury have not taken the step suggested in the second paragraph because they have no power to compel an independent Department to adopt the method suggested. The Higher Division examination is adopted for recruiting the Higher Division staff of both the Colonial Office and the Treasury. But it was stated by my right hon. Friend the Vice President of the Council on May 21 that the duties of the junior examiners in the Education Department are not analogous to those of clerks of the Higher Division, and could not properly be performed by them.