§ Mr. WOMERSLEYasked the Minister of Health whether he is aware that a number of local authorities, in advertising appointments under the Rating and Valuation Act, require, ab initio, that applicants should be members of the Surveyors' Institution; and whether he will take steps to see that qualified rating surveyors who are members of such bodies as the Rating Surveyors' Association, the Incorporated Society of Auctioneers and Landed Property Agents, or the Auctioneers' Institute shall be afforded an equal opportunity of securing such posts?
Mr. CHAMBERLAINUnder the Rating and Valuation Act, 1925, local authorities are empowered to appoint valuation officers and other officers as they think fit, and to pay those officers such reasonable salaries as they think fit. I have no control over such appointments, and I could not, therefore, take any such steps as my hon. Friend suggests.