§ Sir WILLIAM COLLINSasked the Secretary of State for War what are the initial salaries and rates of annual increment of the chemists employed by the War Office at the Research Department of the Royal Arsenal and the Royal Gunpowder Factory respectively; and what is the character of the work in which these two classes of chemists are engaged, and in which of the two is the attendant risk the greater?
§ Mr. HALDANENo establishment has been fixed for the Research Department chemists, and none are entitled to pension except the superintending chemist, to whom his pension is personal only. They are paid according to qualifications and the duties performed by them. The minimum rate at present paid is £93 per annum, and494W the maximum £525. Increments are given according to merit, and have varied between £5 and £25. The Ordnance Factories Chemists are paid on the following scales: Class 2, £260 annually, with an annual increment of £10 to £350; class 3, £110 annually, with £10 annual increment to £250; and in the case of class 2 they are entitled to pension. The chemists at both places are engaged in investigating the properties and manufacture of explosives, and it cannot be said that the risk is greater in one than in the other.