§ MR. WEIR (ROSS and Cromarty)To ask the Secretary to the Admiralty, seeing that the Vote for the Accountant General's Department of the Admiralty shows a new charge of £13,442 for salaries of 151 hired clerks who have not passed a Civil Service examination, will he state on whose recommendation these changes have been made and in whose patronage these appointments are vested, especially 1115 having regard to the fact that the alterations involve a reduction of the staff of Second Division clerks, who have passed competitive examinations, from 148 to 90; and, as examination by the Civil Service Commissioners has hitherto been regarded as the mode of access to the public service, will he state why this system has been replaced by one which puts a higher charge on the Estimates.
(Answered by Mr. Edmund Robertson.) The grade of hired accountant clerk was introduced as part of a general reorganisation of the Accountant-General's Department. The clerks are appointed by the Accountant General of the Navy, who satisfies himself as to their capabilities and character. As previously explained, no examination is necessary for the new class, which is not established. Their employment does not entail a higher charge on the Estimates, the mean cost of a hired accountant clerk being only£100 a year, as compared with £194, that of a Second Division clerk. In addition to the saving in salary there will ultimately be a very considerable saving on the Civil Pensions Vote.