§ CAPTAIN NORTON (Newington, W.)To ask the Secretary to the Treasury if his attention has been directed to the order stating that one-fourth of the Customs watchers shall proceed by annual increments of 1s. to 24s. a week; and will he explain why all the Customs watchers are not to be allowed to have the benefit of this increment.
(Answered by Mr. Hayes Fisher.) The value of the services of a watcher on first employment was estimated at 21s. per week, but as the value might be expected in many cases to increase with his experience, the Treasury accordingly, in 1900, authorised the grant to a limited number of watchers of an increase of pay, but to grant this increase to all the officers indiscriminately would be inconsistent with the principle on which the concession was granted.