§ SIR HENRY KIMBER (Wandsworth)[...] To ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether the old departmental writers and also the pre-1871 registered copyists who served prior to 19th August, 1871, are allowed to count all their continuous temporary service towards pension; and if so, whether, in consideration of the Treasury having allowed the few senior abstractors all the service rendered by them as temporary certificated clerks prior to 19th August, 1871, to count as copyists' service towards bonus, they can likewise allow all such service to count as copyists' service for pension purposes, under Clause 3 of the Superannuation Act of 1887, or any other empowering authority.
(Answered by Mr. Hobhouse.) The rule which has been in force for nearly twenty years is that copyists or writers placed on the permanent establishment are allowed to count one-half of their previous service for pension. It is true that, under a special concession made many years ago, writers employed before 19th August, 1871, and afterwards, without interruption of service, transferred to the establishment, are allowed to reckon their whole service for pension; but I see no sufficient ground for extending this concession to other cases than those which it was intended to meet. The fact that the service as a temporary clerk may have been allowed to count for copyist's 2237 bonus is an independent concession which does not affect the claim to superannuation.