§ SIR THOMAS ESMONDE (Wexford, N.)To ask the Secretary to the Treasury if he will state how many out of the 600 writers promoted to the abstractor class were gazetted to the War Office, and the number of these who actually forfeited £100 gratuity on such promotion; and how many of these established clerks in the War Office have been called upon to accept retirement at the age of 60 years while efficient and with less than forty years of service.
(Answered by Mr. Victor Cavendish.) Twenty-seven abstractors have been posted to the War Office. A writer on appointment to an abstractorship became eligible for a pension in lieu of the gratuity for which he was eligible as a writer. Eight of these men would have been eligible for a gratuity of £100 as writers. In reply to the last part of the Question one clerk was so called upon to retire.