§ MR. CLAUDE HAYI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury when he will announce the particulars of the new proposals of the Treasury respecting the employment of boy clerks in the Civil Service; and whether the assistant clerks examination to be held on the 9th July will be the last under the old regulations.
§ MR. CHARLES HOBHOUSEThe questions connected with the employment of boy clerks involve points of considerable difficulty, and I am not in a position to say definitely when a decision can be arrived at, but the matter is engaging my earnest attention. No alteration in the examination for assistant clerkships is contemplated in the immediate future.
§ MR. CLAUDE HAYIs the hon. Gentleman aware that the same reply has been given by two of his predecessors, and that eighteen months have elapsed since the matter was brought under the notice of the Treasury? How much longer will it take them to settle a point which a business man could settle in a week?
§ MR. CHARLES HOBHOUSEI have only been a week in my present appointment.