§ SIR BARRINGTON SIMEON (Southampton)To ask the President of the Board of Agriculture whether the official order recently issued to the Royal 433 Arsenal and Dockyards, that in the event of its being necessary to discharge employees those who have been employed less than ten years should be selected for discharge, is to apply to the Ordnance Survey.
(Answered, by Mr. Ailwyn Fellowes.) The order to which my hon. friend refers does not apply to the Ordnance Survey. It is the general rule of the Survey, when a reduction of the staff becomes necessary, to select the younger men for discharge where possible, but each case is considered on its merits. It may, for example, sometimes be necessary to discharge an old employee if there is no suitable work for him to do, or to give the preference to a younger employee with an excellent record as compared with an older one with a bad record. I may add that we do not anticipate that it will be necessary to make any general reduction in the staff of the Survey in the near future which cannot be effected by not filling up vacancies as they occur.