§ MR. FIELDTo ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether he will state the terms on which the Colonial Audit Branch was recently amalgamated with the Exchequer and Audit Department; whether the Comptroller and Auditor General is allowed the right to transfer auditors from the various Crown Colonies and Protectorates to the newly amalgamated Colonial Audit Branch and Exchequer and Audit Department; whether one of these auditors with a salary, with allowances of nearly £500 per annum and only seventeen years service, who was neither a civil servant nor a university graduate on his first appointment to the Colonial Audit Branch, and who did not pass a Civil Service examination on admission to the branch, was recently transferred from Gibraltar to the amalgamated Departments in London; if so, whether he is now in receipt of nearly £500 per annum with allowances out of imperial funds, ranks higher, and receives over twice the salary of his fellow clerks of the same length of service who secured their appointments after success in Civil Service open competitions; if so, whether such procedure is in accordance with the terms on which the Colonial Audit Branch has been amalgamated with the Exchequer and Audit Department; and for what reason was this official transferred from Gibraltar to London and another official sent from London to Gibraltar in his stead.
(Answered by Mr. Runciman.) The essence of the new scheme is that the appointment of auditors and assistant auditors in the various Colonies concerned will be made from the staff of the Exchequer and Audit Department, and transfers will consequently take place between members of the staff at Home and in the Colonies. The transfer referred to was carried out in the interests of the public service and without detriment to individual prospects.