Mr. MacCALLUM SCOTTasked the Prime Minister whether, in view of the reference entrusted to the Royal Commission on the Civil Service, he will add an instruction that the Commissioners should be empowered to inquire into the operation of the regulations which preclude a Postal, Customs; Excise, or clerical employé who has been unjustly condemned and fined without a fair trial from obtaining an impartial investigation by the Privy-Council or of petitioning the Sovereign for an inquiry?
§ The SECRETARY of STATE for the HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. McKenna, for the Prime Minister)I cannot accept the assumptions contained in the hon. Member's question. It rests with the Commission to decide the scope of the terms of reference, to which I am not prepared to add.
Mr. MacCALLUM SCOTTAm I to understand that it is within the power of the Commission to take into consideration the operation of these regulations in their inquiry?
§ Mr. McKENNANo, Sir. It is within the power of the Commission to interpret the scope of the reference, but they cannot go outside of its actual terms. The Prime Minister states that he is not prepared to act in the way suggested by the hon. Member.