MR. PHILIPPS (Pembroke)To ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether he is aware that there is only one Admiralty junior appointment vacant, for which the Civil Service Commissioners are advertising an eight days examination on 25th November, to be held simultaneously in London, Dublin, and Edinburgh, at a fee of £6; and will he state what number of candidates have entered for the examination; and whether he will consider the desirability, when the number of vacancies is small, of reducing the entrance fee.
(Answered by Mr. Hayes Fisher.) Thirty-three candidates have entered for the competition for the one junior appointment advertised in the Supply and Accounting Departments of the Admiralty. Fees payable by candidates are fixed with reference to the salary of the post competed for, and to the prospects of promotion from it. The office referred to in the Question is of a value to justify the highest fee—£6. The amount of fees received does not meet more than half the expenses of the Examining Department. I cannot hold out any prospect of the fees 1228 being altered where the number of competitors in a particular case is smaller or larger than the average.