§ 106. Mr. CHARLES DUNCANasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will state up to what age are surveyors of Customs and Excise regarded as eligible for promotion to the second class of the controlling grade; the number of surveyors, formerly Customs first-class clerks, and the number of surveyors, formerly Excise supervisors, who have respectively been eligible under that age limit since selections were first made within the 1481 amalgamated Customs and Excise service; and how many of the former surveyors have been selected for promotion and how many of the latter?
§ Mr. McKENNAThere is no fixed maximum age prescribed for promotion to the controlling grade, but as a general rule the Board of Customs and Excise would not consider men over fifty-five suitable for promotion. When the first promotions by selection were made within the amalgamated Customs and Excise service there were, amongst the various sections of surveyors eligible for promotion, 144 who were formerly Excise supervisors and fifty-one who were formerly Customs first-class clerks. Of these two sections twenty-four and one respectively have, up to the present, been selected for promotion.