In the House of Commons last Saturday on the vote
for the Civil Service, Lieut.-Colonel Guinness, in an excellent and timely speech, asked the Government to justify the bonuses to Civil servants in accordance with the rise of the Index Figure of the Cost of Living to which we have more than once called attention. Ho pointed out how Civil servants were being put in a privileged position and being indemnified against the prices and taxation which others bad to bear. Sir Henry Craik also spoke with force and earnestness. Mr. Baldwin, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, said that in the main estimates this year for unclassified services there was a vote for £9,500,000 wnr bonus, and there was a provisional estimate for the increases in the rate of bonus which would fall duo as from July let. The House had given its consent though it had had no opportunity of discussing the matter. Mr. Baldwin explained that the Civil Service consisted of over a quarter of a million persons divided into innumerable groups in many offices; and as there was no unifying system for dealing with salaries, and as there had been continuous applications for increases of salary, the present system had been introduced in extremely difficult circumstances. He reminded the House that as the bonus rose when the Index Figure rose, so also would it fall when the Index Figure fell.
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