§ MR. McARTHUR (Liverpool, Kirkdale)To ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether the Board of Customs have received three petitions from the examining officers, second-class (1881–8 entrants), drawing attention to the inequalities in pay and prospects of the petitioners in comparison with other entrants; whether he is aware that, at an interview on 6th November, 1907, a representative deputation complained to the Board that through a series of reorganisations the conditions of their entrance to the service had been altered to their detriment; and whether, in view of the failure of the present classification to provide satisfactory advancement for the petitioners, the Treasury will give effect to the ameliorative measures suggested by the examining officers' representatives in their recent communications with the Secretary to the Board of Customs.
1117 (Answered by Mr. Hobhouse.) The petitions were received by the Board of Customs; but I understand that the Board discontinued their consideration of the question when a large number of officers withdrew their support from proposals which had been put forward. It is in contemplation, as announced in the Budget speech, to transfer the Excise work of the Inland Revenue to the Customs Department, and it would not now be convenient to deal with the matters at issue pending that transfer.