§ Mr. HAROLD SMITHasked the Secretary to the Treasury if he is aware that, owing to adjustments in the Customs department under the Hobhouse Report, certain second-class examining officers who failed to pass the examination for first-class will for the next nine years be in a better position financially than officers of the same service who passed the examination; and, if so, what steps will be taken to remedy this state of affairs in the interest of the successful officers?
Mr. McKINNON WOODIn some cases men who were lately second-class examining officers will, owing to the recent adjustments of salary, be for a time in receipt of a higher salary than men of the same service who were lately first-class examining officers, and whose salaries are not being adjusted. But the latter will proceed to their old maximum of £340, which is higher than the maximum attainable by the second-class men, and they are eligible for advancement to surveyorships in the new service without having to pass a competitive examination as the second-class men will have to do.