§ MR. FIELDTo ask the hon. Member for South Somerset, as representing the President of the Board of Agriculture, whether he is aware that members of the Civil staff of the Ordnance Survey at Dublin have been doing surveying and draughtsmen's work for private persons and receiving pay for the same while in the public service; whether permission has been granted to perform this class of work, and, if so, to how many; and whether it is proposed to allow public servants to monopolise work of this class and deprive private surveyors of it.
(Answered by Sir Edward Strachey.) The work to which my hon. friend refers is not done during official hours nor in contravention of the Treasury Regulations governing the undertaking of unofficial employment by members of the Civil Service. With a view, however, of preventing any possibility of the work in question conflicting with official duties, permission has to be obtained for doing it, and during the last three months the necessary permission has been granted in eleven cases. The President of the Board does not propose to interfere with the existing arrangements.