45. Sir J. D. REESasked the Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs whether the system of qualification of interpreters in foreign languages followed in the Foreign Office is correlated with, or tested by, 30 comparison with that in force in the Army, Navy, and Indian Civil Service; and whether the examinations passed by the members of the diplomatic service in various languages are of equal, inferior, or superior severity as compared with those held by the Civil Service Commissioners?
Mr. HARMSWORTHThe answer to the first part of the question is in the negative; it would be impossible to answer the second part without very detailed and laborious enquiries, as the examinations passed by members of the Diplomatic Service, in order to qualify them for the allowances referred to in my answer to the question which my hon. Friend addressed to me on 31st March, are all conducted locally, under the supervision of a competent expert in the language of the country in which the examination takes place.
Sir J. D. REESWithout asking my hon. Friend for any enquiry at all, may I ask whether it is to be understood that these tests for the Foreign Office hold good and are recognised outside diplomatic circles?