HC Deb 12 April 1910 vol 16 c1208W
Mr. ANEURIN WILLIAMS

asked the Secretary to the Admiralty whether he is aware that assistant storehousemen in His Majesty's dockyards who only passed at the end of 1909 have been established, while a number of men who passed at the examination in April, 1904, are still waiting for establishment; whether he will see that all men who passed in the 1904 examination shall receive priority of establishment to the men who passed in the 1909–10 examination; and whether, in the event of any of the former having passed the age at which they may be established (while the establishment has been closed), he will see that this age disqualification shall not be a barrier to establishment?

Mr. McKENNA

Examinations for promotion of the hired storehouse staff to the established position of assistant storehouseman (now known as storehouseman, second grade) are held from time to time by the Civil Service Commissioners under precisely the same conditions as govern all other appointments to the Civil Service. The competition is limited to storehouse employés, and it follows that each fresh examination list cancels those of an earlier date. The unsuccessful candidates are, however, eligible to compete at subsequent examinations up to the prescribed age limit. The vacancies that occurred during the suspension of establishment of the storehouse staff were subsequently filled, under Treasury sanction, by the men next in order of merit on the old examination list at the respective yards before the new examination was held.