§ MR. ALDENI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether the Treasury have recently circulated in the various Government departments a scheme in which it is proposed to pay assistant clerks of twenty-five to twenty-six years of age, and in the ninth year of permanent service, a salary of £85 per annum; whether the majority of the men will be employed in London; if so, whether their Lordships consider this a living wage for this class of Civil servant; and whether they are prepared to modify the scheme as regards men of this age.
§ THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. HOBHOUSE,) Bristol, E.I may point out that the salary in the suggested scale, at the age mentioned, is £5 better than the salary on the present scale at the same age, assuming that assistant clerks now enter at an average of twenty; and the difference in favour of the suggested scale is still greater in the next succeeding years. No doubt the majority of assistant clerks are employed in London, but I cannot propose any modification of the scheme as suggested.