§ Mr. BYRNEasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland if he is aware that in the recent reorganisation scheme of the Irish prisons service a definite statement is made to the effect that the pay will govern the grade in which men are to be placed; why some officers who have hitherto been in receipt of £10 or £15 extra annually for special duties, and who have long service (from twenty to thirty years), have been placed in the third or lowest class, and junior officers with less than twenty years' service placed over them in Class II.; will he see that this grievance is remedied in the case of long-service and well-con-ducted officers; whether, in view of the fact that ordinary warders who have no allowances for special duties have by the new scheme received an addition of £8 to £10 in their pensionable emolument, he will explain why it is proposed that in the case of some officers in receipt of £10 or £15 pensionable allowance for trades or other special duties to stop this allowance as a pensionable emolument and substitute a non-pensionable hourly rate for these duties; does this system exist in England; and will he have the matter again submitted to His Majesty's Lords of the Treasury and the Irish and English prisons services assimilated?
§ Sir J. LONSDALEasked why married warders occupying prison dwelling-houses receive 1s. 6d. per week more than married warders quartered outside the prison; why the allowance for coal and light has been taken from married warders and continued to single warders; and if it is intended to remedy these grievances?
§ Sir J. LONSDALEasked whether Irish prison warders with twenty years' service, who by good conduct had gained their maximum salary under the old scale of pay, are now compelled to accept the minimum scale of pay under the new 6ystem; and if all warders whose conduct and service entitle them to the maximum scale will be paid at that rate and receive arrears of pay from the date of the introduction of the new scheme?
§ Mr. DUKENo officer was compelled to accept the new scale of pay. The General 781W Prisons Board are not quite clear what class of officer is referred to in the question. In the case of an ordinary warder of twenty years' service, on the maximum salary of the old scale, who was offered and accepted a promotion to Class II. wardership, he entered that class at the point on the new scale to which his old salary, plus the increase in salary sanctioned by the Treasury, brought him if this was higher than the minimum. If this sum was lower than the minimum, he entered at the minimum even more to his advantage.