§ Colonel PRYCE-JONESasked the Secretary to the Treasury whether he is aware that officers of Customs and Excise at Manchester in attending for duty on Sundays and public holidays, in connection with vessels discharging oil in bulk, and having signed on and off in the station appearance book in accordance with Importation Code, paragraph 431 (a), have only been paid for an attendance of half-an-hour, instead of for the whole time represented between the hours of signing on and off; that, in making week-day visits 1040W to vessels discharging oil in bulk between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m., the officers have not been allowed, in the case of visits before midnight, to count the time spent in return to their residences, nor, in the case of visits after midnight, to count the time spent in travelling to the vessels, although the Importation Code, paragraph 437 (a), recognises that the time occupied in proceeding from and returning to their residences should be allowed for; that, as a result of these deviations by the Board of Customs and Excise from established practice, the officers have been compelled to refund varying amounts received by them as overtime payment, yet at the time when their attendances were given the officers were not aware that changes had been made in the regulations governing their attendance on Sundays and public holidays and between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. on other days; that, to obtain the full allowance for visits under the new regulations, officers will be obliged to pay their visits when public conveyances are not available for both journeys; and, in consequence, will he instruct the Board of Customs and Excise to refund to the officers concerned the amounts refunded by them, and, in future, to allow credit to be given for the actual periods covered by an officer's attendance?
§ Mr. MASTERMANThe answer to the first part of the question is that the rule is that officers are paid for visits on Sundays and public holidays for the whole period of actual attendance necessarily given, including the time involved in signing on and off, subject to a maximum of three hours, and the Board of Customs and Excise know of no instance in which this rule has not been observed at Manchester, though instances have occurred where the time of attendance recorded by the officer did not correspond with the facts; to the second, that the regulation quoted was one of a set of old regulations which were superseded by new regulations issued to the service in December last; to the third, that the payments were improperly claimed under the new regulations which were well known to the officers; to the fourth, that the regulations are, as might be expected, more favourable in the case of visits paid at times inconvenient to the officers; and to the last part, that I see no reason to refund the amounts improperly obtained in the first instance or to modify the new regulations which, I 1041W may observe, were accompanied by the grant of a pensionable compensation allowance of £10 per annum to each of the officers concerned.