HC Deb 30 October 1912 vol 43 cc425-7
20. Colonel YATE

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether his attention has been drawn to the appointment of Mr. Stubbs, a junior first-class clerk in the Colonial Office, to the Colonial Secretaryship of Ceylon, on a salary of £2,000 a year; whether he is aware that Mr. Stubbs has little more than twelve years' service, and though he became a first-class clerk less than two years ago he is now ousting an officiating Colonial Secretary in Ceylon who has been in the Ceylon Civil Service since Mr. Stubbs was one year old; whether his attention has been called to the allegation that it pays men better now to join the Home Civil Service than either the Indian or Colonial Civil Service; whether, in order to maintain the high reputation hitherto enjoyed by the Colonial Civil Service, and to give confidence to those in it and to those now preparing to enter for it that their careers are not in future to be blasted by being superseded by men far their juniors serving in the Home Civil Service, he will lay down the rule that any transfer from the Home Service to the Colonial Service is to be balanced by a transfer back from the Colonial Service to the Home Service, and that he will thus transfer a man in the present case from the Colonial Service to fill a vacancy caused by Mr. Stubbs' promotion amongst the first-class clerks in the Colonial Office, and also take steps to see that the officiating Colonial Secretary of thirty-five years' service in Ceylon is compensated by promotion elsewhere for his supersession; and will he say whether Mr. Stubbs had any special claim to this promotion beyond the fact that he went to Hong Kong to inquire into the revision of Civil Service salaries, and has since helped to edit the Colonial Office List?

The SECRETARY of STATE for the COLONIES (Mr. Harcourt)

My selection for this very difficult and responsible post was made after a careful review of the merits of officers already in the Colonial Service, and I am unable to admit that the appointment involves injustice or hardship to any one whether within or without the Colony. The Colonial Secretaryship in Ceylon has not been filled by promotion in the Colony for fifty years; and while one of the higher local officials is, of course, generally appointed to act as Colonial Secretary in the absence of that officer, it is well known that such acting service gives no claim to the substantive post. Mr. Stubbs' special qualification for the office, is that for over twelve years he has served with marked ability in the department of the Colonial Office which deals with the affairs of Ceylon. As regards the third and fourth questions of the hon. and gallant Member, if he studies the rules governing admission to the Home Civil Service he will find that his suggestion is impracticable.

Mr. LEE

Are we to understand that there has been no promotion in the case of Ceylon except for ranks of the Home Civil Service and not for the Colonial Service to posts of that kind?

Mr. HARCOURT

That is not what I said. What I said was that the Colonial Secretaryship of Ceylon has not been filled by promotion in the Colonies for fifty years.

Colonel YATE

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the senior officers of the Colonial Service are in absolute despair at the way they are being superseded?

Mr. HARCOURT

I am aware that feeling is not one which is held in the Colonial Service.

Mr. GERSHOM STEWART

May I ask whether the Royal Commission on Civil Service appointments may include the Colonial Service so that the very real apprehension of the Colonial Service on this question of promotion may be investigated, and if possible assuaged?

Mr. HARCOURT

That is a question as to the terms of reference with which I am not familiar at the moment.

Sir J. D. REES

Will the right hon. Gentleman appoint a Commission to consider the matter under the presidency of the hon. Member for Leicester?

Mr. KING

Will the right hon. Gentleman consider the interests of the people of Ceylon as the first matter?

Mr. HARCOURT

The Colony is always the first consideration in appointments of the kind.