§ MR. HARRY SAMUEL (Tower Hamlets, Limehouse)To ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether his attention has been called to the decision of the King's Bench Division on 22nd November last in the case of Rex v. Major, which stated that the Treasury practice of making a deduction of 25 per cent. in the case of officers whose whole time is not engaged by their official work from the compensation which would have been given them if their whole time had been so engaged, did not have sufficient regard to all the circumstances of the case or the conditions required by Section 120 of the Local Government Act, 1888; and whether, in considering appeals under the Local Government Act, 1888, and statutes incorporating the compensation provisions thereof, the Treasury will treat this practice referred to in the Stepney case as abrogated.
(Answer.) Under the Local Government Act, 1888, local authorities abolish offices which have become useless owing to the amalgamation of Boards and jurisdictions. But if they do this, Section 120 requires them to award compensation, after considering all the circumstances of the case. In the case referred to in the Question the authority asked the Treasury what deduction from the full amount of compensation the Treasury were in the habit of making in the case of a person whose duties did not require his full time; and, being informed 25 per cent., they fixed their award avowedly on the ground of Treasury practice. The Court decided that technically such a decision considered only one consideration, and not all the considerations, of the case. If the authority had made the same award in the words "after considering all the circumstances of your case, we award you" so much, their position would have been unassailable. The decision of the Treasury can only (Sub-section 4) be given on an appeal from a decision of the local authority and no such appeal was made in the case now in question. The sub-section does not require the Treasury to consider all the circumstances of the case. The words are "the Treasury on appeal shall 542 consider the case and determine whether any, and, if so, what amount ought to be granted, and such determination shall be final." As regards the Treasury therefore, the technical point founded on the words "after considering ail the circumstances of the case" disappears. But, as a matter of fact, the Treasury does consider all circumstances of each case before "determining," e.g.,
- 1. Tenure of office.
- 2. Length of service.
- 3. Character and conduct.
- 4. Amount of time required for the discharge of the duty—or, in other words, whether it was an office requiring the officer's whole time or whether it could be held by a person in the active practice of his profession. Ail this was not explained to the Court because the Treasury was not a party and did not appear.—(Treasury.)