HC Deb 04 August 1899 vol 75 cc1483-4
ADMIRAL FIELD

I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether, in view of the answer given by him on 9th April, 1897, in reply to a question by the hon. Member for the Norwood Division of Lambeth relative to the retirement of clerks in the Probate and other law offices, he can now state the nature of the regulations alluded to as then being about to be issued dealing with the grievances in question, and whether they were ever issued; whether he is aware that there are at this moment four clerks with over twenty years' service, six clerks with over fifteen years' service, and fifteen clerks with over ten years' service, all of whom are in the same class as when they entered the office, and at the maximum salary of their class, the average time in the third class being upwards of twenty years; whether clerks remain in the office till they are over seventy years of age, and why the rules for their compulsory retirement at sixty-five, recommended by the Ridley Commission, are not complied with; whether the President of the Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty Court has brought the subject under the notice of the Treasury repeatedly, but without result; whether he is aware that clerk of twenty years' service are still serving on the small salary of £200, owing to the non-retirement of old men, and whether the existing arrangements can be abolished; and can he inform the House of the number of clerks who will reach sixty-five years and upwards by the end of the present financial year in the probate and Admiralty Court who are not under the compulsory retirement rules.

MR. HANBURY

The clerks of the departments of the Supreme Court are not persons in the permanent Civil Service within the definition of the Superannuation Acts. The Order in Council of 15th August, 1890, does not therefore apply to them, and the Treasury is powerless to enforce retirement at the age usual in the Civil Service. This retirement could only be enforced by an order made by the authorities of the Supreme Court, and I understand that the Lord Chancellor is unable to obtain the assent of all the chiefs of the several Divisions of the Court. I am unable to answer the questions as to the ages of the clerks in the several Divisions of the Court. In fact, I understand that the ages of several are not known.