§ Mr. ALDENasked the Secretary to the Treasury if he is aware that in 1898 the surveyors of taxes were informed that Treasury sanction had been obtained to an increase in the salaries of their clerks; that increments were then granted to clerks who had been employed continuously in surveyors' offices for ten years and upwards; that the surveyors were informed that the salaries of the clerks would be subject to annual review by the Board of Inland Revenue; that again in 1900 the surveyors were informed that they could not engage or dismiss a clerk without obtaining the direct sanction of the Board of Inland Revenue; and whether he is now prepared to reconsider the matter and allow clerks' service prior to 1908 to count for pension?
§ The FINANCIAL SECRETARY to the TREASURY (Mr. Hobhouse)The reply to the first four parts of the question is in the affirmative. It was, however, at the same time made clear that the clerks were in the service of the respective surveyors and not of the Board of Inland Revenue, and that no rules which had been framed for established or unestablished Civil Servants were applicable to them. The reply to the last part of the question is in the negative.