§ Mr. HOGGEasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Munitions whether increases of salary since the Armistice have been given principally to re[...]ain business men who were anxious to rejoin their own businesses; whether a clerk in the Department of the Controller 1466W of Munitions Timber Supply who started on 31s. 6d. a week, paid weekly, had his salary raised to £500 a year since the Armistice; whether the head of the establishment received an increase of pay, £150' a year, since the Armistice; whether an official in the Central Stores Department who was a voluntary worker was given a salary of;£800 a year since the Armistice; and whether an official in the Finance Department had his salary raised from £600 to £1,200 a year and was recently paid a bonus of £1,000?
§ Mr. KELLAWAYIncreases of salary have been given since the Armistice principally to retain business men who were anxious to rejoin their own businesses, but in a number of other cases increases of pay have had to be granted in the normal course of promotion or because of higher duties undertaken in consequence of the departure from the Ministry of officials holding the higher posts. There have been no cases of increases of salary since the date of the Armistice to officials in the Munitions Timber Supply or Central Stores Department such as those referred to by the hon. Member The increase of £150 to the head of the Establishment Department was granted since the Armistice in order to bring him up to the minimum of the scale of salary assigned to the official position ho holds. A professional accountant of high attainments was given a gratuity of £1,000, the payment of which was necessary to retain his services for so long as they were required after the dale of the Armistice. The official referred to was originally appointed to the Ministry in 1916 at a salary of £600 per annum, which was gradually increased to £l,200 per annum, the amount paid to him as assistant financial secretary. I regret to say that this official has left the service of the Ministry to take up a commercial appoinment at a salary greatly in excess of that he was receiving in the Government service.