§ MR. SEARS (Cheltenham)To ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer in reference to the recent orders of the Boards of Customs and Inland Revenue reducing, from the 1st April next, the age-limit of retirement from these services to sixty-one in place of the present limits of sixty-five in the Customs and sixty-two in the Inland Revenue, if he will state the necessity for adopting this stop at the present time; and whether it is taken with the object of reducing the establishments concerned.
§ MR. SEARSTo ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will state the number in each grade affected by the orders of the Boards of Customs and Inland Revenue reducing the age of retirement to sixty-one; whether he is aware that disappointment and feeling exist, especially in the Customs, because of the short notice given of this change, involving the hardships of several years reduced incomes and the dislocation of private arrangements and liabilities entered into on the faith of existing departmental regulations; and will he cause inquiry to be made with the view of modifying the feeling on the part of officials that the action taken implies a want of reasonable consideration for the interests of the men affected.
(Answered by Mr. Lloyd-George.) The general orders referred to give notice that after the close of the current financial year officers may be required to retire on attaining the ages mentioned. No decision can be reached at the present time as to the future needs of the public service with regard to the establishments in question.