MARQUESS Of TULLIBARDINEasked the Secretary to the Treasury whether the assistant secretary to the Scottish Insurance Commissioners, who was trained in the legal office of W. and F. Haldane, W.S., the present Government's Crown Agents, has been an exceptionally active Radical; whether the Civil Service Commissioners protested against his appointment as assistant secretary, on the ground of his not having been a member of the Civil Service, in which there were many gentlemen suitable for the post; and what is the amount of the salary?
§ The FINANCIAL SECRETARY to the TREASURY (Mr. Masterman)The salary of the assistant secretary to the Scottish Commission is £550, rising to £700. No protest against his appointment was made by the Civil Service Commission. He informs me that he has never been a member of any political association, nor taken any part in politics, that in claiming his vote he has always refused the assistance of political organisations, and that the last political meeting he remembers attending was one addressed by the senior Member for the City of London some twenty years ago.
§ Mr. MASTERMANI never said so.
§ Mr. KINGIs it quite fair to the insurance Commissioners to try to raise prejudices by such questions?
MARQUESS of TULLIBARDINEasked whether the appointment of head clerk to the Scottish Insurance Commissioners was recently offered to the town clerk of Dunfermline, a prominent local Radical; whether there is no one in the Civil Service suitable for the position; and what is the amount of the salary?
§ Mr. MASTERMANThe salary of head clerk under the Scottish Commission is £400, rising to £550. The gentleman appointed as head clerk is a Writer to the Signet, and was selected on account of his legal training and his special knowledge of Scots law. No appointment has been offered to the town clerk of Dunfermline.
MARQUESS of TULLIBARDINEHas the hon. Gentleman any reason to think that there was nobody in the Civil Service fit for this position, in view of the Chancellor of the Exchequer's statement that their claims would be considered first?
§ Mr. MASTERMANThe Chancellor of the Exchequer was quite clear in his statement. The appointments are either from the Civil Service or they are advertised, as this appointment was. I am not aware that every member of the Civil Service has a special acquaintance with the Scottish law.
MARQUESS of TULLIBARDINEIs the hon. Gentleman aware that the Chancellor of the Exchequer said that a preference would be given to Civil servants?
§ Mr. MASTERMANA very large number of appointments have been made from the Civil Service. In fact, we are coming to the end of the possibility of such appointments.
MARQUESS of TULLIBARDINEasked (1) the number of typewriters ordered and in use in the offices of the Scottish Insurance Commissioners; the cost of such machines, the name of the manufacturer in each case, and the name of the firm who supplied them; and whether tenders were publicly advertised; (2) how many Underwood typewriters have been ordered by His Majesty's Stationery Office during the last twelve month; in what Government Departments are they used; what is the individual contract price for the same, and whether any such typewriters have been used in previous years in any of the Government Departments; and, if so, in which and in what numbers?
§ Mr. MASTERMANEight typewriters have been ordered for the Scottish Insurance Commissioners and were bought through the Stationery Office from the Underwood Typewriter Company, who were paid direct at the special rates agreed upon between the Stationery Office and the company for the supply of these machines to Government Offices. Tenders for typewriters are not publicly advertised by the Stationery Office, which from the nature of the case supplies only machines of approved makes. Including the above eight machines, twenty Underwood Typewriters have been ordered by the Stationery Office during the last twelve months for use by the India Office, the 857 Stationery Office, the Office of Works, the Bankruptcy Department, the Scottish and Irish Insurance Commissioners, and the Royal Commission on the Civil Service. Between 1905–6 and 1910–11 thirty Underwood typewriters were provided for about fifteen different Departments in all parts of the United Kingdom, including, among others the Admiralty, the War Office, the Home Office, the Post Office, the Local Government Boards, England and Ireland, the Irish Land Commission and the Scotch Lunacy Board.
§ Mr. MASTERMANI cannot tell that.
§ Mr. PRINGLEIs it advisable to advertise any particular kind of typewriter by questions in this House?