§ Mr. CHARLES DUNCANasked (1) whether an assurance can be given that the large number of promotions of Excise assistants to second officers as compared with the number of promotions of Customs assistants to second-class examining officers will not, having regard to the great disparity in length of service of the two grades, prejudicially affect Customs 14 officers in the amalgamated service; (2) whether, in the recent transfer, Customs assistants have been utilised to render possible the early promotion of Excise assistants, and that in the transfer of Excise officers to the Customs branch in 1909 their appointment retarded the promotion of Customs assistants by several months; and, in view of the fact that both transfers have been prejudicial to Customs officers, whether he will take steps to remove this cause of complaint?
§ Mr. HOBHOUSEPending the fusion of the Customs and Excise staffs, it has been necessary in the public interest, in order to avoid employing an unnecessarily large number of officials, that the officers in either branch of the Department should assist the other as occasion requires, but promotions in the separate Customs and Excise organisations are proceeding independently. Various difficulties necessarily arise in connection with the fusion of two large bodies of officers, but I hope that the Committee now sitting under my chairmanship will be able to solve those difficulties with the least possible hardship to the various classes concerned.