§ MR. NIELD (Middlesex, Ealing)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether he is aware that the Second Division clerks in the Estate Duty Office, London, elected at the beginning of this year to accept a reduction of maximum salary from £350 to £300, in return for an immediate increase of about £50 per annum; whether, in view of this expression of preference for immediate benefit, he will withdraw that condition of promotion to the First Division (Class 2) which requires those clerks to whom promotion is offered to reverse their decision and accept a corresponding present reduction, in consideration of the restoration of the £350 maximum, with a remote possibility of promotion to Class 1 in a few cases; and, in the event of his being unable to do this, whether, as the future scale of salary for these clerks will then be on the whole no better than their present scale, as Second Division clerks, he will state what steps he proposes to take to secure to the promoted clerks an adequate recompense for undertaking superior duties.
§ THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. HOBHOUSE,) Bristol, E.I have nothing to add to 1789 the replies which I have already given on this subject.
§ MR. HOBHOUSEI am afraid I cannot admit that. I have examined it very carefully.