§ MR. CAREW (Kildare, N.)asked the Postmaster General, Whether clerks employed at the Central Telegraph Office are compelled to absent themselves from duty when there is an infectious disease in their homes; whether they are allowed full pay during their enforced absence; whether, if the clerk suffers from an infectious disease himself, he has one-third of his pay deducted; and, whether he will grant full pay in both cases?
§ SIR HERBERT MAXWELL (A LORD of the TREASURY)(who replied) said (Wigton)The hon. Member has stated the practice correctly. Telegraphists at whose homes there are infectious diseases are required to absent themselves; and this absence being not for their own 161 sake, but for the sake of others, it appears only fair that their pay should continue. But when telegraphists are themselves ill, they become subject to the deduction common to all officers of similar rank; and, for the reasons given the other day in reply to a previous Question from the hon. Member, the Postmaster General is not prepared to alter the practice in this respect.