THE EARL OF LIMERICKasked the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether the memorial of the hundred collectors of customs sent in to the Treasury more than four years ago, and to which no answer had been given, would receive consideration; and, whether it was a fact, as stated in The Civilian newspaper, that sixty out of the hundred and twenty-three collectorships then existing in the United Kingdom had been abolished, and many collectors made redundant and reduced to subordinate positions; and, whether any steps would be taken to provide for these officers, and to place the junior collectors in the same pecuniary position, at least, as the collectors of inland revenue?
§ THE EARL OF IDDESLEIGH (FIRST LORD of the TREASURY)The Memorial in question was received and in due course referred to the Customs. That Board has only recently been able to report upon it, the numerous recent changes in the organization of the Department having entirely altered the conditions which existed when it was first sent in. They have, however, now proposed to the Treasury a scheme for re-classifying the staff of collectors, which is at present under consideration, and the general result of which will be to improve the position of the collectors. The number of collectorships at the out ports has been reduced from 121 to 55; but this reduction has not been applied to any individual collector, so that none of them have suffered pecuniarily. A number of old men have retired, and the redundants have thus been absorbed. Most of these reductions have been made in the smaller collectorates, so that the average salary of a collector is higher than it was by nearly £100 per annum. 659 Of the 100 collectors who signed the original Petition there remain only 15 whose cases call for consideration, and some, if not all, of these will shortly be provided for. With regard to the last words of the Question, the salaries of the Collectors of customs must be fixed with regard to the nature of their duties, which are by no means comparable in many cases with those of the collectors of Inland Revenue. The smaller Customs collectors have very little money, comparatively speaking, passing through their hands.