§ Mr. SCANLANasked the Secretary to the Treasury whether dissatisfaction has arisen among the senior first-class officers of Excise since the issue of his committee's report, through whose recommendations these officials, numbering about 850, have simply through their seniority been penalised in not being permitted to reach, as in the case of the lower division clerks, the new maximum salary of their grade, namely, £300; whether he is aware that many of these officials serving in Ireland are, through their length of service, beyond the hope of reaping any further benefit in pay, prospects, or remuneration from overtime while in the service; that many of them have been at the former maximum salary of their grade for periods, ranging from five to fifteen years; whether, in view of these facts, he will be prepared to modify the clause in the report so that all the officers concerned may, through certificate of efficiency, proceed to the new maximum, £300, of their grade?
§ Mr. HOBHOUSEThe maximum of the proposed new scale is not £300, as stated, but £280, with an allowance of £20 per annum to those officers whose present2066W prospects of promotion are affected by the reduction of higher posts. The officers in question are not eligible for this allowance, as shown in paragraphs 134 and 136 of the Committee's Report, which fully explain the position. These officers will be eligible for the benefits accruing from the retrospective application of the scale to the 1st April, 1909.