§ Mr. SNOWDENasked the Secretary to the Treasury on what date was the appointment of a head valuer, Finance Act, to the General Valuation Office (Ireland) sanctioned by the Treasury; on what date was this appointment actually made; what was the cause of the delay in making this appointment; and on what occasions has either the head valuer or the Dublin district valuer exercised any supervision or control over the clerical staff?
Mr. McKINNON WOODThe Treasury letter sanctioning the appointment of a head valuer for the Finance (1909–10) Act, 1910, valuation is dated the 18th January, 1911, but it should be explained that this sanction was given in connection with the estimates for 1911–12, and was not intended to take effect immediately. The valuer was actually transferred from the permanent valuation staff on the 1st November, 1911. He and the district valuers exercise general control over the Finance Act valuation staff.
§ Mr. SNOWDENasked the Secretary to the Treasury what is the number of days constituting the ordinary annual leave of the clerical superintendent of the land values branch of the General Valuation Office, Dublin; on how many days in addition to his vacation has this clerk been absent on sick leave; on how many days 2812W coincident with the superintendent clerk's absence was the district valuer absent; whether he is aware that the valuer's room communicates in no way with the rooms in which the clerks are employed, and that disciplinary control of them by him is at any time impossible, and has, in practice, never been exercised; whether there is any precedent in a public office for a temporary second division clerk, with a salary of less than £78 per year, being placed in control for even the briefest period of a staff of such dimensions as the temporary clerical staff now employed by the Commissioner of Valuation (Ireland); and what steps does he propose to take to terminate the present state of disorganisation in the office referred to?
Mr. McKINNON WOODThe clerk who superintends the clerical work of the land values branch of the General Valuation Office is entitled to forty-eight days' annual leave. Since 1st April last he has been absent ten days on sick leave, but I cannot say on how many days his absence has coincided with that of the district valuer. The temporary clerical staff are engaged on simple copying work, and I do not think it necessary to change the present system of leaving a second division clerk in charge during such time as the superintending clerk may be absent. There is no disorganisation in the office.