§ Mr. NEWMANasked the Secretary of State for War whether he will give a reference to the rules prescribed for the Civil Service under which certain assistant 2448W accountants are to be dismissed unless they accept compulsory transfer to inferior appointments; and whether he will assure the House that the assistant accountants who are to be retained in the Department are to be definitely graded as higher division clerks in accordance with the terms of the Order in Council under which they were specifically promoted from the second division?
§ Mr. HOBHOUSEAll Civil servants hold their offices during pleasure, and their services can be dispensed with at any time when no longer required. The officers in question have not been offered inferior appointments, but appointments on the same scale of salary as those which they now hold. If they cannot be further employed in the War Office, and decline to accept transfers to other Departments, the only alternative is to retire them with such compensation as is authorised under Section 7 of the Superannuation Act, 1859. As regards the latter part of the question, it is not the case that the Order in Council, under which certain clerks were promoted to these posts from the second division requires that they should be graded as higher division clerks, and there is no intention of placing them in that category.