and I want to have it very distinctly from you: I want to know where is the contract between the State and any Upper Division clerk in any department, that he is only to work 6 hours a day?" "There is no such document that I know of, and no such understanding further than the statement upon his entering the office that the hours are such and such." "But I want to ascertain whether there would be even an approach to a breach of faith (if such a term may be used) if the State says: 'We insist upon our servants working for us 7 hours a day?'" "None in my mind, and I may add that it is generally known that the hours are so and so, but longer hours when required" [on exceptionally busy days]. To Sir T. H. Farrer, Permanent Secretary to the Board of Trade, 1867 to 1886, the Chairman of the Royal commission said: "What is your view with reference to its being fair or necessary to increase the pay if seven hours' work be asked from an Upper Division clerk. Do you think there is any contract to do only 6 hours' work?" "No, there is no contract whatever; theoretically the rule is that civil servants are to do the business that is required of them. The practical difficulty remains that if you do it you may have a great uproar. You may cause discontent, and you may have, as I said before, pressure in the House of Commons; but theoretically, and as a matter of right, I can see no reason why every officer should not be obliged to give 7 hours for the existing pay." "Have you not to some extent recognized it[364] by creating a different scale of pay in the Lower Division for 7 hours than for 6 hours?" "Yes, you have, and I am very sorry for it; when I say you have, I was a party to it,[365] but I am sorry that we did it." "But you are of course of opinion that when you announce that the office hours are from 10 to 4, it means that these are the hours of public attendance, but that it does not in any way prevent the head of the office from asking the clerks to stop until the work is done?" "No; but the larger your class of Lower Division clerks, the more you will find that the hours become fixed hours, and if they are asked to attend beyond them [because of unusual pressure of work], they will ask for extra pay for attendance."[366] * * * * * [Sidenote: _Clerks are Clerks_]