We referred in our issue of August 12th to the
astonishing revelations as to the pay and hours of work of the Civil Service made in the latest Reports of the Select Committee on Estimates. The evidence on which these Reports were based was published last week in a Blue Book, which can be obtained from the Stationery Office at the price of 4s. This evidence is mostly derived from the examination by the Committee of high officials and heads of departments—as to whom we should say at snce that there is no suggestion that they are personally under- worked. But their attempts to defend their reputation as stern taskmasters are rather more amusing than convincing. The regular hours for the Civil Servant in London are from 10 to 5 through the week, with three-quarters of an hour off for lunch, and 10 to 1 on Saturday—a weekly total of 38 hours' attendance and 34i hours of actual work. The talk about the lunch- interval only confuses the issue, as we imagine that a similar institution exists in all business offices and shops. But even acknowledging the existence of a 38 hours week for the Civil Service, the average business man will readily agree with Mr. A. M. Samuel's assertion that his own firm "could not be solvent on hours of that kind."
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