§ MR. MOLTENO (Dumfriesshire)To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether, in view of the fact that the hopes of the British directors of the Suez Canal that a method of adjusting the partition of the surplus revenue more acceptable to the clients of the company might eventually be arrived at were expressed in August, 1906, after the reduction of 75 centimes had been made in January of that year, he can ascertain what prospect there is of these hopes being realised at an early date; whether he can state what was the amount of the considerable sums stated to have been expended since that date on the improvement of the canal; and whether this amount is such as seriously to delay the realisation of these hopes.
(Answered by Secretary Sir Edward Grey.) In the Report of the Suez Canal Company to the shareholders for the year 1907 it was stated that very considerable works were required for deepening and widening the Canal in order to keep pace with the constant increase in the dimensions of the vessels making use of it. The present depth of the Canal is nowhere less than 28 feet, and it is intended to increase this depth until the figure of 36 feet has been obtained throughout. This work will be commenced in 1909, and will take some five 331 years to complete. This must of necessity entail a very heavy expenditure, and a further large sum will be required for the completion of the new docks at Port Said, which work is now in progress. Until these works have been completed no further reduction in the transit dues should be anticipated. The receipts from this source for the first six months of the current year show a decrease of some millions of francs as compared with the figures for the same period of last year. In these circumstances it is not thought that the present moment would be opportune for the introduction of any change in the partition of the surplus.
| — | Number of Assistant Clerks (New Class) employed. | Number promoted. |
| Savings Bank Department | 130 | 20* |
| Estate Duty Office | 66 | 8 |
| Customs Statistical Office | 151 | 2† |
§ Promotions of assistant clerks under the Board of Customs, as in other Departments, are under Order in Council only made exceptionally upon grounds of special merit, after not less than six years service. In comparing the Customs Statistical Office with other Departments, it must be borne in mind that in that office, besides the assistant clerks (new class), abstractors are also employed, now numbering thirty-six. From that class eighteen promotions have been made to superior grades.