§ MR. FIELD (Dublin, St. Patrick)To ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether he will state the number of Exchequer and Audit Department officials who are likely to retire on pension before the end of the present year, and the approximate amount of pension to which each of them will be entitled.
(Answered by Mr. Hobhouse.) I am not prepared to make inquiry as to possible retirements in the Department. Information on both these points will be available in due course in the Estimate for Class 6, Vote 1, for 1909–10.
§ MR. FIELDTo ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether he will give the dates on which the members of the promotion Committee in the Exchequer and Audit Department met in 1905, 1906, 1907, and 1908, the total membership of this committee, and the number present at each meeting.
(Answered by Mr. Hobhouse.) This Question relates to matters that, under Section 9 of 29 and 30 Vict., c. 39, are entirely within the discretion and authority of the Comptroller and Auditor-General, and I have no power to interfere.
§ MR. FIELDTo ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether the recommendations of the Inter-Departmental Conference on removal expenses of members of the Army Accounts Department and of holders of appointments under similar conditions under the Admiralty and Exchequer and Audit Department have been adopted by the latter Department; and, if not, will he explain why.
(Answered by Mr. Hobhouse.) The recommendations are in force for removals, the cost of which falls on Imperial revenues. In the case of removals; the expenses of which are repaid by the Colonies, special rules have been laid down by the Colonial Office.
§ MR. FIELDTo ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether he will state the 1705 amount realised for 1907–8 by the Exchequer and Audit Department from the sale of stamps attached in prepayment for carriage to official parcels of accounts received from the Crown Colonies and Protectorates.
(Answered by Mr. Hobhouse.) Nil.