§ MR. LAFONE (Southwark, Bermondsey)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether, in view of the proposed reduction of boatmen in Her Majesty's. Customs, the Treasury will advise the Board to add five years to the term of the old boatmen who have been over 30 years in the service, and are over 50 years of age, as the superannuation is so small for these officers under the present rules?
§ MR. HANBURYUnder section 7 of the Superannuation Act, 1859, the decision whether any term of years shall be added to the period of service, for superannuation purposes, of an officer retiring through abolition of office rests, not with the head of his Department, but with the Treasury. Since the Report of the Royal Commission on Civil Establishments the Treasury have limited the exercise of their powers under that section to cases in which certain conditions are fulfilled, chiefly in regard to the amount of saving to be effected by the change of organisation in view. The reductions in the number of Customs boatmen have already been effected to a considerable extent without any occasion arising for the application of that section. So far as can be seen at present, the remainder of the contemplated reductions may admit of being carried out without need for recourse to exceptional measures.