§ MR. JAMES HOPE (Fife, W.)To ask the Lord-Advocate if he is aware that a 1472 member of the engrossing staff in the Sasine Office, Edinburgh, has, at the age of seventy-five, after thirty-three years-service, become incapacitated for work, and now is dependent for support on a small weekly allowance from a benefit society composed of members of that staff; and whether, in view of this state of matters in a branch of Government employment, will the Government be prepared to consider the adoption of means whereby the engrossing staff may be put on a footing more in accord with the rules of employment recognised in public service.
(Answered by Mr. Scott Dickson.) The member of the Sasine Office staff to whom the hon. Member presumably refers is eligible on retirement for a gratuity in terms of a Minute issued by the Secretary for Scotland after consultation with the Treasury on 14th September, 1893, when the position of the engrossing staff was fully considered. I may add that the gentleman in question has, through not being a member of the establishment of the Civil Service, had the advantage of continuance of service at the full rate of pay he was competent to earn for ten years beyond the age of sixty-five, which is the ordinary age limit. His application for a gratuity has just been received.