§ 54. Mr. HAYESasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether he is aware that Mr. J. Thoms, formerly employed as ganger in Hyde Park, and' who has performed Sunday duty for 32 years, has now been refused permission to include the wages of this day among his emoluments reckonable for pension or gratuity, and that the Department contends that this permission is only earned when the Sunday duty is both regular and compulsory; whether he is aware that the duty was admittedly regular, and that Mr. Thoms was verbally told at the commencement of his service that such duty was a part of his condition of service, and whether, in view of the fact that he was so allowed to serve throughout his whole service life without question, he will have this case reconsidered?
§ Captain HACKING (for The FIRST COMMISSIONER of WORKS)I have been asked to reply. As I informed the hon. Member privately, the First Commissioner has given the fullest considera- 875 tion to the claim made by Mr. Thoms for the inclusion of his Sunday duty pay in the emoluments reckonable for gratuity, but is unable to trace any circumstance which would justify a departure from the rule which has been applied to all similar cases and which excludes such pay from the calculation for gratuity on retirement. The Sunday duty was not compulsory, and there is no evidence in official documents that Mr. Thoms was informed that it was part of his conditions of service.