§ MR. CLAUDE HAYI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether 1316 the overtime work, performed by abstractors in the Customs Statistical Office on the preparation of the monthly and annual statements of trade, is compulsory, and whether, seeing that the rate of pay is less per hour than that earned during the official day in a large number of cases, a higher rate per hour can be introduced.
§ MR. MCKENNAThe Answer to the first part of the Question is in the affirmative. The rates of overtime pay for abstractors are fixed on grounds of convenience on a sliding scale, which gives a rate, sometimes above, sometimes below, but fairly represents on the average the actual rate of pay. I see no reason to change the rates of overtime which were improved only last year.