§ SIR HOWARD VINCENT (Sheffield, Central)To ask the Secretary to the Treasury if the Saturday half-holiday, now so usual in all business houses, is extended to the clerical staff of the Civil Service so far as the public service permits; and, in such case, if he will have the Order in Council of 1890 upon the subject amended in that sense, so as to enable all Civil Service clerks to devote their Saturday afternoons to service in the Volunteer Force and upon the rifle range.
(Answered by Mr. McKenna.) The Orders in Council of March 21st and August 15th, 1890, provide for a half-holiday on alternate Saturdays, at the discretion of heads of departments, if the state of public business permits; and I am not prepared to amend the Orders in Council, so as to extend this privilege, unless the time can he made up by increasing the working hours on other days of the week.