§ MR. DELANY (Queen's County, Ossory)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury what is the exact status of a supernumerary staff officer, and in what Dublin offices are officials with this designation employed; whether he will state the circumstances which rendered such an appointment necessary in the office of the Board of Works, Dublin, and is it to be assumed that it was to meet temporary pressure, and, if so, has this pressure passed away, and will the officer concerned now revert to his original grade; why a former personal clerk of Sir Robert Holmes was transferred to this office in the capacity named, considering that at the same time he is receiving an allowance as a private secretary to Sir George Holmes; and under what circumstances were such exceptional measures necessary in an office the assistant secretary of which is now being spared indefinitely to the Railway Commission without any apparent inconvenience to the Department.
§ MR. RUNCIMANThe appointment in question was made in connection with a partial reorganisation of the staff of the Board of Works agreed upon between 1355 the Treasury and the Board. The officer referred to was considered to possess special qualifications for the duties he was required to fulfil, and these expectations have been fully confirmed. Pending, however, the completion of the staff arrangements, for which opportunity has not offered, the post was not regarded as of a substantive character. It is not the case that this officer is receiving an allowance as private secretary. As regards the last part of the Question, the expert knowledge of the assistant secretary on railway matters was placed at the disposal of the Commission so long as he could conveniently be spared. The arrangement is, of course, of only a temporary nature.