§ 40. Mr. T. WILLIAMSasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury the number of hours worked in overtime by customs officers since the Import Duties Act came into force, and the extra cost entailed?
§ Major ELLIOTThe information asked for is not readily available and I do not feel justified in authorising special measures for its compilation.
§ 43. Mr. McENTEEasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury the number of extra Customs officers that have been engaged to carry out the duties in connection with the imposition of tariffs, and the various sources from which they have been obtained together with the approximate cost of salaries involved?
§ Major ELLIOTThe usual statistics of the staff of the Customs and Excise Department will shortly be available and these will show the increase since 1st October, 1931. I will communicate them to the hon. Member. I would, however, point out that these cover all the Department's activities. The special information asked for could be obtained only with the expenditure of a considerable amount of labour, and I regret that at present I should not feel justified in asking for such a return.
§ Mr. McENTEEIs the right hon. and gallant Gentleman aware that there are in several Government Departments, particularly the Post Office, large redundancies of staff, and is it his intention to use redundant staff for this purpose?
§ Major ELLIOTWe have done our best, and we shall do our best in future, to make sure that redundancy in one Department is balanced against vacancies in another.