§ MR. DILLON (Mayo, E.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether the principal coast officers of Customs petitioned on the 6th May, 1897, for an inquiry into certain alleged grievances; and whether, seeing that in the reply, signed by the Chairman of the Board of Customs, it was stated that the Board saw no reason for appointing a committee to inquire into the position of these officers, but that the Board would be prepared to consider the cases of any 1092 officers individually, and invited certain officers to send in statements of their cases, he will explain why the officers, numbering 30, who applied to the Board in July and August last year, have not yet received any answer to their applications?
§ MR. HANBURYThe facts are as stated. The reason why no reply has yet been made to the individual petitions is that the Commissioners of Customs have had larger questions of organisation under consideration, which it is desirable to settle before dealing with the points raised by the petitions.
§ MR. DILLONWill a reply be sent?
§ MR. HANBURYYes, when a decision has been arrived at.