§ MR. CHIOZZA MONEYI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether he is aware that a number of aged writers who have been employed in various departments of the Civil Service since 1870, and who have been paid during that time about thirty shillings, per week, are to be discharged in January next with only £100 each as a gratuity; and whether, in view of the age, character, and length of service of these men, he can see his wav to provide them either with an old age pension or an increased gratuity?
§ MR. MCKENNAThe considerations which have led my hon. friend to the conclusion that these men should be granted pensions apply with equal force to a very large number of persons now in the employment of the State. No distinction can be made in their case and the terms on which their engagement was made give no ground for the claims now advanced. I may add that I dealt fully with this subject in my reply to my hon. friend the Member for Exeter on the 3rd July last.†
§ SIR G. KEKEWICH (Exeter)Would there be any difficulty in modifying the Treasury Minute to meet the case of these men? I should also like to ask whether these men are not a class entirely by themselves, consisting of only about a dozen; whether there are any other persons in the Civil Service in a similar position, that is to say, with an average of seventy-four years of age and thirty-four years service; and whether, in view of these circumstances, they are to be discharged and be obliged to go to the workhouse?
§ MR. MCKENNAThe Answer to my hon. friend's Question is that there are a,
† See (4) Debates, clix, 1601.1439 large number of other persons in the service of the State engaged on exactly the same terms, and whose conditions of service are exactly the same. No change could be made in these cases without extending a similar change to those other servants of the Crown. I can hold out no hope of any alteration in the law in this respect.
§ MR. CHIOZZA MONEYWill my hon. friend consider the advisability of treating all these men in the same way— a proper way—and so keep them out of the workhouse?