§ MR. BIGGARasked the Postmaster General, If it is true that during the past seven years thitreen telegraph instrument clerks in Belfast Post Office have died from consumption; and, whether the high rate of mortality is not to be attributed to improper ventilation and impure supply of water; and, if so, whether he will make arrangements to have the defects remedied?
§ LORD JOHN MANNERSSir, I have ascertained that the number of telegraph clerks at Belfast who died from consumption during the last seven years is 10. But there is no reason to suppose that their deaths are in any way attri- 971 butable to want of ventilation in the instrument room or to impurity in the water supply. The Belfast Post Office was recently largely improved at a considerable expense, and the medical officer reports to me that there are no defects to call for remedy.