§ Mr. BOLANDasked the Secretary to the Treasury if he would state why the Board of Customs and Excise still persist in compelling surveyors and examining officers of Customs to purchase and wear uniform; whether, as there was now an interchange of duties by Customs and. Excise officers, the former on an initial salary of £110 per annum should be compelled to expend £5 in the purchase of a uniform for no useful purpose, when the latter official, serving under the same Board and performing precisely similar duties, was exempt from wearing uniform; and whether the time had arrived when the wearing of uniforms by surveyors and examining officers could be advantageously abolished or otherwise supplied at the expense of the Crown?
§ Mr. HOBHOUSEI cannot make any statement on this subject, pending the inquiry now being conducted by the Committee which has been appointed under 203 my chairmanship to consider the amalgamation of the Customs and Excise services.