HC Deb 08 August 1919 vol 119 c738W
Sir A. SHIRLEY BENN

asked the Secretary to the Treasury(1) whether young men who have received continuous and systematic education up to the Age of fifteen and, having been found unfit for general service, served for two or more years in a Government dockyard, are in eligible to undergo the qualifying examination under the Temporary (Reconstruction) Regulations for the selection of officers of Customs and Excise; and whether a young man who passed the Civil Service examination in May, 1914, who attested, but was graded B 3, and has been employed in His Majesty's dockyard for the whole period of the War, serving in the constructional manager's drawing office for a period of twelve months, is ineligible because the Civil Service Commissioners do not recognise service in His Majesty's dockyard equivalent to service in a Government Department;

(2) whether a boy who left school at the end of June, 1914, aged fifteen years one month, and served as an apprentice in one of His Majesty's dockyards from 29th July, 1914, up to the present time, and who was certified Grade 2 at the medical examination, is ineligible to undergo the qualifying examination under the Temporary (Reconstruction) Regulations for the selection of officers of Customs and Excise because he was employed in a dockyard and not in a Government Department?

Mr. BALDWIN

Service in His Majesty's dockyards is not regarded as service in a Government Department within the meaning of the Temporary (Reconstruction) Regulations to which reference is made As an alternative to continuous education the experience of employment in a Government Department is accepted in certain cases, but not employment in a Government dockyard or factory.