§ Mr. HUGH BARRIEasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his attention has been called to the case of J. A. Eckersley, who was recently sentenced to four years' penal servitude, and who was formerly employed as a boy clerk in the Claims Department at Somerset House, and who had used the knowledge therein gained to defraud the Government; whether he, like many others, was thrown out of employment by the Government at the expiration of his term of employment as a boy clerk; whether nearly 100 boy clerks per annum, employed in offices of surveyors of taxes, where they gain much confidential information, are regularly thrown out of employment; and whether 1832W he will take steps to have the clerical staff in these offices taken in future entirely from the ranks of established Civil servants?
§ Mr. LLOYD GEORGEI am aware of the matter referred to by the hon. Member. The reply to the second part of the question is in the affirmative, in accordance with the conditions of entrance into the public service. The reply to the third and fourth parts of the question is in the negative.