§ CAPTAIN NORTON () Newington, W.I beg to ask the Postmaster-General if he can state what regulations, if any, exist concerning deferred and arrested increments of pay; whether an arrest of increment for one, two, or three years is irrecoverable under any circumstances; whether it involves a loss of seniority on pay and holiday sheets; and whether such regulations as exist apply equally to barrier increments and to all classes of Post Office servants.
LORD STANLEYThe regulations respecting the allowance of ordinary annual increments to civil servants are contained in the Order in Council of the 29th of November, 1898. In paragraph 20 of that order it is prescribed that no increment can be allowed to an officer unless a certificate can be furnished by his immediate 622 superior officer that during the preceding year his conduct has been approved; and that if such certificate cannot be given when the increment falls due the grant may be deferred until the officer shall have completed a continuous period of twelve months approved service, when the increment will become payable from the date of such certificate. It is also laid down that if the officer's conduct shall continue satisfactory the head of the Department may, after a certain interval, and subject to the consent of the Treasury, increase the officer's salary to an amount not exceeding that at which it would have stood if no increment had been withheld. These regulations apply to all civil servants. The deferment of an ordinary increment does not affect an officer's seniority in any way. As regards the classes in the Post Office where an efficiency bar exists in the scale of pay, an increment which would carry an officer over the bar can be allowed only on a certificate from the superior officer that the officer is fully qualified to perform the highest duties of his class.