§ MR. MACVEAGH (Down, S.)To ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether the Board of Customs by their General Order 78 of 1902, had granted an annual 1192 allowance of £15 as compensation for retardation of promotion to officers who served less than twelve years in the grade of outdoor officer prior to promotion to the rank of second-class examining officer; and, if so, whether he can state upon what grounds a similar allowance of £15 has been refused to those officers who joined the Customs service between 1885 and 1888, all of whom served as outdoor officers and assistants for twelve years and upwards before being promoted to the rank of second-class examining officer.
(Answered by Mr. Victor Cavendish.) The condition of the two classes of officers referred to by the hon. Member is dissimilar. Officers who were appointed between 1885 and 1888 were in a position to forecast their prospects better than the entrants during and prior to 1883, who could not have foreseen that their promotion might be retarded by the warehousing changes effected in 1882 and 1883.