§ MR. REDDY (King's County, Birr)To ask the Secretary to the Treasury if he will explain why, in face of the Treasury reply to Mr. Cox, of November 19th, 1902, the allowances of £20 granted to abstractors (old class) in the General Register and Record Office of Shipping and Seamen in 1898, have not been extended to assistant clerks (new class) as has been the case in the Custom House, seeing that they are doing the same work for which the allowances were granted.
(Answered by Mr. Victor Cavendish.) The arrangement by which certain of the abstractors (old class) in the office of the Registrar-General of Seamen were given an advance of £20 within their scale was temporary and was never intended to be applied to the assistant clerks (new class) in the office. The case of the assistant clerks (new class) in the Custom House is not analogous.