§ CAPTAIN NORTONI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he can state whether the post in the copying branch of the Colonial Office, recently filled by the promotion of an assistant clerk, was one of the six posts referred to in the statement made in this House on the 5th of December, 1893, by the then Under Secretary of State for the Colonies as being special posts to which the best second division clerks may look to be promoted if found qualified; whether a period of over twelve months elapsed between the occurrence and the filling up of the vacancy in question; and, whether, during that interval, the second division clerks serving in his department preferred a request that the Permanent Under Secretary of State would receive a deputation from their body with reference to the filling up of the vacancy, but that no opportunity was afforded them of sending such deputation?
THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (MR.J.CHAMBERLAIN,) Birmingham, W.This is a question of administration and necessitates a very long answer. The post of superintendent of the copying branch of the Colonial Office, which became vacant last year, was one of the six posts referred to in an answer given by the honourable Member for Poplar, then Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, on the 5th of December, 1893, as posts to which the best second division clerks might look to be promoted if found qualified, and if, as vacancies approached, the circumstances of the office should continue to justify their retention. On the occurrence of the vacancy it was thought advisable not to retain the post on the same footing and scale of salary, but to substitute an office, the holder of which should be styled supervisor of copying, with a salary not rising beyond £300, which is below the maximum of the second division clerks, and it has been filled by the appointment of an assistant clerk who had assisted the superintendent for several years, and had for considerable periods acted as superintendent during the absence through illness of the superintendent, and was in my opinion the person best qualified for the duties of the post. The answer to the second question is in the affirmative. There was no necessity for any deputation. The second division clerks who applied for the post stated their views as to filling up the vacancy fully in writing, and all or any of them who desired it might have stated them orally to the Permanent Under Secretary of State. I may add that since the date of the answer referred to in the question one second division clerk has been promoted to the rank of superintendent, four have been specially promoted to the higher grade of the second division, and one to a temporary staff post with increased emoluments, and that of the second division clerks then serving in the Colonial Office there are only four who have not received any special advancement.