§ Mr. KEIR HARDIEasked the Secretary to the Treasury if he will state why the preventive men of His Majesty's Customs, Cardiff, when ordered to Fishguard to perform duties in connection with the arrival of the boat from New York, are not paid for the overtime they make to which they are entitled under Paragraph 100 of the Establishment Code; will he take steps to see that when the attendance at Fish-guard, together with attendance at Cardiff, exceeds forty-eight hours in any one week these men receive overtime pay at the usual rate; and will he see that overtime rate is paid when attendance is given between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. at the merchants' request?
§ Mr. HOBHOUSEThe officers receive subsistence allowance while absent from Cardiff and also overtime pay for any work, whether performed at Cardiff or at Fishguard, in excess of forty-eight hours a week. This is all that they are entitled to under the regulations governing overtime pay, including the one referred to. The attendance being required in the interests of the Crown, no charge for overtime is made on the merchant.
§ Mr. DOUGLAS HALLasked whether the Financial Secretary to the Treasury is aware that discontent prevails among preventive men at the stagnation in the process of promotion into the class of preventive officers; and whether, in view of the inability to carry into practice the spirit of the Goschen Minute of 1891, he can see his way to recommend that preventive men who have reached the maximum salary and passed a qualifying examination as preventive officers should receive increased pay equivalent to that paid to the lower section of preventive officers?
§ Mr. HOBHOUSEI beg to refer the hon. Member to my reply to a question on this subject addressed to me on 1st March last by the Noble Lord the Member for Newton.