§ MR. SLOAN (Belfast, S.)To ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether he will state the grounds on which the retirement order of established Civil servants was applied to the late clerk to an inspector of taxes in Scotland who, it is alleged, held an unestablished position; whether he will state on what basis the gratuity of £78 was computed; whether he is aware that such clerk was only in receipt of 30s. wages weekly up to his thirty-first year of service; whether he will state total' service of such clerk; and whether he will state the amount of pension such clerk would have been entitled to had his position been an established one.
§ (Answered by Mr. McKenna.) The Order in Council requiring established Civil servants to retire at sixty-five is not applicable to the clerk referred to, but such clerks are required by the Department to retire on attaining the age of sixty-two in the absence of any special reason to the contrary. The gratuity of £78 was calculated at half the annual pay of the clerk. It is a fact that his wages were only 30s. a week up to his thirty-first year of service. He would have been qualified for a pension of £101 13s. 6d. per annum if his position had been an established one.