§ Colonel PRYCE - JONESasked the Secretary to the Treasury whether he is aware that officers of Customs and Excise at Manchester in visiting vessels discharging oil at the various oil wharves on Sundays and public holidays are obliged to cover, between the times of signing on and off at the depot, distances varying from 3 to 9 miles, and that the time allowed for each visit has been half an hour, which covers the attendance at the ship's side only; that the Board's regulation specially governing the payment of overtime for oil visits on week days between the hours of 6 p.m. and 6 a.m., instead of being well known to the officers, was first brought to their notice by the Accountant and Controller-General so recently as the end of April last, although visits had been made at intervals since December of 1912; and that, as the officers have not been 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, nor on other occasions for the whole period during which their visits were made, he will therefore reconsider his decision of the 4th instant and allow the repayment to the officers concerned of the amounts refunded by them?
§ Mr. MASTERMANI can add nothing to my answer to the hon. Member's question of the 4th instant on this subject, except that the Board of Customs and Excise have ascertained that in the instances where half an hour was allowed that was the time stated by the local officers to call at the depot on the way to It is not necessary in every case for the officers to call at the depot on the way to and from the ships, and they have not been in the habit of doing so when making visits at night, for which the maximum period of three hours is allowable. The point whether such necessity existed in any of the cases in question is now under consideration by the Board, and I do not propose to interfere with their decision in the matter.