§ MR. D. A. THOMAS (Merthyr Tydvil)To ask the First Lord of the Treasury if he can say why the upper division officials in the Departments of the Local Government Board and Board of Trade are placed on an inferior scale of salary to those in Departments presided over by Secretaries of State; and whether he has any official information showing that the system secures officers for the former Departments of merit equal to those in the latter.
§ (Answered by Mr. A. J. Balfour.) Scales of salary are fixed in each Departm en tin view of the nature of the work to be done in it. The salaries in the two Departments mentioned in the Question were fixed after a full and comparatively recent inquiry, and attract officers in all respects competent to discharge the duties entrusted to them.