§ MR. GRAHAM (St. Pancras, W.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether there is any limit of age, and, if so, what limit, beyond which no prison official may he promoted to a deputy governorship, a fifth-class governorship, or to a clerkship in the Prison Department in the Home Office; and are the competitive prison clerks, who paid a £3 examination fee, debarred at the age of forty-five from progressing in the customary course of promotion to clerkships in the Prison Department of the Home Office to fifth-class governorships, or to deputy governorships.
§ *THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Sir M. WHITE RIDLEY, Lancs., Blackpool)I have been asked by my right hon. friend the Secretary to the Treasury to answer this question. It would he unusual, except under very special circumstances, to promote a prison official over the age of forty-five to any of these appointments. The appointments, as has been explained on previous occasions, are in the customary course of promotion only in the technical sense, that is to say, a fresh Civil Service certificate is not necessary. These posts require special qualifications, and are given by selection, and not by seniority or as a right of promotion.