§ Sir WILLIAM BULLasked whether the employment of Customs port clerks, second class, has hitherto been on the basis of a seven-hour day, with payment for overtime attendance at rates varying from 9d. to 2s. 6d. per hour, according to salary; whether it is proposed to increase their liability of attendance to 48 hours per week, and to offer as compensation an allowance of £3; and, if so, whether, having regard to the fact that such allowance is equivalent only to overtime pay at the rate of 2½d. per hour for the increased liability of attendance, any Customs port clerk who so desires will be permitted to forego the proposed allowance, and to continue on his present seven-hour day basis?
Mr. McKINNON WOODThe answer to the first and second parts of this question is in the affirmative, and to the third is in the negative. The calculation of 2½d. an hour is based upon an erroneous assumption. The allowance of £3 a year represents the average overtime pay throughout the class under the old system.