asked the Minister for Finance whether the Army Finance Department has issued notices of dismissal to a large number of clerks who were engaged in 1922 as men specially qualified by previous experience for dealing with Army accounts, and whether it is proposed to replace those clerks by new entrants with no previous experience of the work, and, if so, whether he is satisfied that the efficiency of the Department will not be impaired.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - DISMISSAL OF ARMY FINANCE CLERKS.
Notices of discharge were recently given in the Army Finance Department to a number of temporary clerks who had no Army service, in order that they might be replaced by ex-Army men who last year passed a competitive examination entitling them to permanent appointments. The newly-appointed candidates have given evidence of their capacity for clerical work by passing the examination, and the number of replacements will not detrimentally affect the work of the Department.
Is there any opportunity given for the existing temporary officers to participate in these examinations, and is there any marking to the credit of entrants as a result of the fact that they have had experience in the work?
An examination will be shortly held for about 130 vacancies, all confined to people who have served in a temporary capacity. The examination will not be of the purely educational character that might be set to candidates just fresh from school; it will be such as will enable people who have been a number of years in an office, and who will be capable of doing the work of an office, to compete with reasonable chances of success.