§ Mr. CHARLES DUNCANasked the Secretary to the Treasury if he will state the number of claims for subsistence received from the Excise official transferred to the Customs Department in 1909, and what was the total amount paid in settlement of the claims; what was the number of claims for subsistence received from Customs officials of all grades transferred to the Excise Department in 1910, and what was the total amount paid in settlement of the claims; and what was the number of claims for subsistence received from the assistants of Customs transferred to the Excise Department in 1910, and what was the total amount paid in settlement of the claims?
§ Mr. HOBHOUSEI cannot give the exact number of the claims, but none of them were admissible under the regulations, and, therefore, nothing was paid in respect of them.
§ Mr. CHARLES DUNCANasked the Secretary to the Treasury if he will state the number of Excise promotions from assistant to second-class officer, and Customs promotions from assistant to second-class examining officer, since the issue of the Excise Transfer Order in Council; and what is the average length of service and average increase of salary on promotion for the two grades?
§ Mr. HOBHOUSEsupplied the following particulars:—
Excise—
Number of promotions from assistant to officer, second class, 257;
Average length of service of the 257 men promoted, 4 years 11 months;
Average increase of salary of the 257 men promoted, £6 13s. 3d.
Customs—
Number of promotions from assistant to examining officer, second class, 74;
Average length of service of the 74 men promoted, 8 years 2½ months;
Average increase of salary of the 74 men promoted, 9s. 7d.
§ Mr. CHARLES DUNCANasked the Secretary to the Treasury whether the Board of Customs and Excise have made arrangements to employ assistants of Customs on clerical duties appertaining to the grade of second-class examining officer; whether the assistants intended to be so employed will receive an increase in 400W salary commensurate with the increased responsibility of their duties; and whether any reason exists for not promoting assistants to second-class examining officers in the ordinary course to perform these duties?
§ Mr. HOBHOUSEUnder the standing regulations, an assistant of Customs may be called upon to perform, under supervision, any of the clerical work proper to the grade of examining officer, second class. The latter part of the question does not therefore arise.
§ Mr. FIELDasked whether, in view of the fact that assistant clerks in the Customs statistical office who have refused promotion to the general service are stated to be unsuited for promotion to junior clerkships in that office owing to the character and conditions of the work, he can state the meaning of an extract from a Treasury letter embodied in the Board of Customs Minute 5698, 1906, which stated that a larger proportion of assistant clerks of special merit may be promoted to port clerkships than has hitherto been the case on the understanding that those selected from the statistical office should be allowed, if it is desirable in the public interest, to revert to a junior clerkship in the statistical office when occasion arises?
§ Mr. HOBHOUSEThe Board of Customs and Excise have no knowledge of the statement referred to in the first part of the hon. Member's question; the latter part therefore does not appear to arise.
§ Mr. FIELDalso asked how many members of the present supervising staff of the Customs statistical office were introduced by proomotion from the general service; what is the reason that a number of clerks from the general service, with no knowledge of statistical work, have been promoted to the statistical office, in view of the fact that assistant clerks in the statistical office who have refused promotion to the general service are possessed of exceptional merit and ability, and have a thorough knowledge of the work of the office, have been informed that the qualifications for promotion in the statistical office cannot be properly compared with qualifications for promotion to the general service because the whole character and conditions of the work are different; what are the qualifications required for promotion to junior clerkships, and under what Order in Council are such promotions made?
401W
§ Mr. HOBHOUSEIncluding two clerks transferred from Somerset House on amalgamation, seventeen of the present supervising staff were appointed from the general service. The appointments range over a long period, and the reason for each appointment was that the person selected was considered most suitable for the particular post; the qualifications for a junior clerkship are ability to perform the duties of that rank, coupled with good general capacity; such promotions are made under Clause 7 of the Order in Council of 10th January, 1910.
§ Mr. LESLIE SCOTTasked the Secretary to the Treasury if he will state the statutes passed during the last sixty years whereby loans were raised or guaranteed, which would have been Money Bills within the meaning of Clause 1, Sub-clause (2), of the Parliament Bill, had the Parliament Bill then been an Act of Parliament?
§ Mr. HOBHOUSEThe preparation of an exhaustive list would involve an examination at any rate of the titles, and in some cases also of the texts, of the whole of the Public Statutes enacted during the period. I may, however, perhaps refer the hon. Member to the Treasury (Temporary Borrowing) Act, 1910, and the Transvaal Loan (Guarantee) Act, 1907, as typical of the two classes.