§ MR. DAVID THOMAS (Merthyr Tydvil)I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether the examination by which Civil servants of the Upper Division in his Department are recruited is the same as that for the same division in departments presided over by Secretaries of State, and the class of work such officials perform similar; will he say whether the Department has made any reductions in numbers; and, in view of the promises made by the Treasury in Parliamentary Paper No. 515, v. 4, of Session 1893–4, will he explain the continuance of an inferior scale of salary as that in the Local Government Board.
§ MR. GRANT LAWSONThe examination for Clerks of the Upper Division in the Local Government Board is the same as that for clerks of that division in the offices of the Secretaries of State, with the exception of the Foreign Office; and so far as I am aware, the class of work performed by the clerks in these several offices is similar in character. Some reductions in the number of Upper Division Clerks in the Local Government Board were made between 1884 and 1897, but in that year the large growth in the work rendered it essential that a considerable increase should be made in the staff of the office, including the Upper Division. The matter referred to at the end of the Question is one for the Treasury.