MR. GIBSON BOWLESI beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury, can he state what is the cause of the delay in filling up the post of Reading Clerk in the House of Lords; Is he aware that the House of Lords Offices Committee in 1889 strongly recommended that the appointment to at least one of the two posts of Clerk Assistant and of Reading Clerk should, instead of being exercised by the Lord Chancellor, revert to the Clerk of the Parliaments, and that he , should promote to the post one of the senior clerks of his department; Is he aware that the Joint Select Committee of the House of Lords and the House of Commons on the Houses of Lords and Commons Permanent Staff which sat in 1899 agreed with the opinion expressed by the Lords Committee of 1889; Can he give an assurance that, in filling up this post, regard will be had to the recommendations of these two Committees, can he state what provision is made for the performance of the duties of the Reading Clerk during the time that the post remains unfilled, and can he say when the post is likely to be filled by a fresh appointment; and, will he put down the Vote for the House of Lords Offices for such a day as will enable it to be discussed.
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY (Mr. A. J. BALFOUR, Manchester, E.)I can only say that the matter is under consideration.
✶See The Parliamentary Debates [Fourth Series], Vol. liii., page 490.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURIt is impossible for me to fix a day.
§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILLIS the matter under the consideration of the Lord Chancellor?
§ [No answer was given.]