§ COLONEL WYNDHAM-QUIN (Glamorganshire, S.)To ask the Secretary to the Treasury if he is aware of the effect of the Treasury ruling of 8th May, 1896, as regards the promotion of holders of minor staff posts to the higher division whereby they are required to revert to second division salary on promotion, thereby causing a loss of salary, while, at the same time, the clerk is called upon to perform work of a higher character and assume greater responsibility; whether he will state the object of such a rule and the authority under which it has been adopted; and will he take steps to have it cancelled, in view of its effect in inflicting monetary loss on those members of this class in the service who prove themselves fit for further advancement.
(Answered by Mr. Elliot.) The regulation was made by the Treasury as the authority immediately responsible for the salaries of civil servants. Staff posts of the second division were created for superior duties of Accounts, Registration and Supervision: and the salaries attached to them were fixed on a liberal scale, as such posts constitute the prizes of the second division, and it was not contemplated that further promotion was 1382 open to the holders. If a clerk who had been promoted from the second division to a staff post were allowed, on further promotion to the first division, to carry with him the salary of the staff post, it might easily happen that he would be receiving a higher salary than a clerk who had entered the first division after a severe examination in subjects of the highest class and had been an equal time in the service. This would be unjust to the other higher division clerks, and it would, moreover, be a waste of public money, as the normal minimum of the higher division (£150 or £200) is much lower than the salary of a staff post. The rule is, in my opinion, equitable to the clerks and necessary in the public interest.