§ MR. M'GOVERN () Cavan, W.I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether he is aware that the present chief clerk in the office of the Surveyor of Taxes in Belfast has been in the service of the department for over eight years, and earned good reports from the surveyors and inspectors under whom he served, and been promoted on account of the efficiency with which he discharged his duties; and, seeing that this gentleman has a certificate from the Civil Service Commissioners which qualifies him to be placed on the permanent staff on the recommendation of the head of his department, can he state what objection there is to giving him the necessary recommendation to be put on the permanent staff of the Civil Service under the Order in Council of the 4th June, 1870.
§ THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAIN,) Worcestershire, E.The hon. Member appears to be under a misapprehension as to the circumstances of this case. In the first place, the clerk referred to is not in the service of the Board of Inland Revenue, but in the personal employ of the Surveyor of Taxes; and in the second place, he does not hold a Civil Service certificate. It is true that he was at one time registered with the Civil Service Commissioners as a temporary boy copyist, but his employment 1122 in this capacity does not qualify him to be placed on the permanent staff of the Civil Service under the Order in Council of the 4th June, 1870.