§ Major OWENasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether the attention of the Department of Customs and Excise has again been drawn by the Caernarvonshire County Council to the serious difficulty experienced by monoglot Welsh applicants in understanding the 1783W questions of the English-speaking officers, and that as a result they are unable to give correct answers; and whether he will issue instructions that officials appointed to Welsh-speaking localities must have a knowledge of the Welsh language?
§ Mr. W. S. MORRISONThe Commissioners of Customs and Excise have recently received representations in this sense from the Caernarvonshire County Council, but no evidence of difficulties of the kind referred to has been brought to the notice of the Department. As regards the second part of the question, it is the practice of the Commissioners to appoint Welsh-speaking officers, whenever possible, to areas in which a knowledge of the Welsh language is considered desirable.