asked the Secretary to the Treasury whether he can state why temporary women clerks in the Customs and Excise Department are denied in the rest of the country the extra war bonus granted to the same class in London, seeing that the cost of food and living generally has risen to an equal degree in the provincial towns; and what action he proposes to take?

The wages paid to temporary women clerks in the Customs and Excise Department outside London are consolidated war wages, including allowances for all war bonuses, and are determined with reference to existing local conditions. The rates arc reviewable from time to time as existing conditions may require.