§ MR. CARLILE (Hertfordshire, St, Albans)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether, seeing that the second division clerks in the Estate Duty Office, London, affected by the Order in Council of 21st December, 1907, elected to have their salaries readjusted thereunder before any question of promotion was brought to their notice, and seeing that the promotion; of the clerks in question is to be by selection on the grounds of special competency and merit, such selection not having yet been made, the question has not at present arisen with regard to any individual clerk, he will state the reasons why specially selected clerks in the Estate Duty Office are to be required under that Order to enter the first division at a salary less than their readjusted salaries, while this was not made a condition in the case of the clerks of the Admiralty recently promoted, and whether it is to be understood that the chronological accident that one scheme ante-dated the other in its conception, though post-dating it in execution, is the sole reason for distinguishing the men to be promoted in the Estate Duty Office from those already promoted in the Admiralty.
§ MR. HOBHOUSEAs regards the promotion of second division clerks the circumstances in the Estate Duty Office are different from those in the Admiralty. The Estate Duty Office is undergoing a reorganisation, which would have involved the disappearance of the second division staff if the present course had not been taken. Promotion is different from the mode adopted in the Admiralty, where there has been no general decision to make promotions, and a particular clerk is only promoted on the ground of exceptional merit.
§ MR. CARLILEWhy is there this difference of treatment between the two classes?
§ MR. HOBHOUSEThe circumstances in the one case are considered greatly superior to those in the other.