§ MR. P. MARTINasked the Postmaster General, Whether his attention has been called to the evidence given on the trial of a lad named Purcell, a letter-carrier in Her Majesty's service, before Mr. Justice Fitzgerald at the last 1699 Tralee Assizes, from which it appeared that Purcell had been paid by the Post Office the sum of one shilling and sixpence a week; and that another letter-carrier named Prendergast, as mentioned by the Judge, had been remunerated at the rate of six pence a day for carrying a letter bag twenty Irish miles each day; if he would state what amount was allowed to the postmaster in charge of the district for which Purcell acted as letter-carrier, and had the postmaster any payments to make out of his salary; whether there are any instances, and, if so, in what places in England, of remuneration on so low a scale given to officials in the Postal Service; if the Postmaster General has any objection to lay upon the Table of the House a Return showing the rates of payment respectively given to postmasters and letter-carriers in England and Ireland; and, whether he proposes to have an inquiry made with the object of having an increase of remuneration granted in Ireland to the postmasters and letter-carriers who may appear to be insufficiently paid?
§ LORD JOHN MANNERSSir, I had no information on the subject mentioned until I saw the Question of the hon. Gentleman. Having now made inquiry, I find that the postmaster of Kenmare receives, among other allowances, £4 a-year for the delivery of letters in the town, occupying about three-quarters of an hour a-day—which is according to the usual scale for such light deliveries throughout the United Kingdom— and that he hired Purcell, who is a shoemaker's apprentice, to do this small part of his work for 1s. 6d. a-week. The postmaster, who is paid for all his duties according to scales which apply to every office of the same class in the United Kingdom, receives about £65 a-year, and, having certain expenses to provide for, his net income is a little over £50 a-year. The authorities in Ireland have no knowledge of the case of Prendergast, nor of 6d. a-day being paid for carrying a letter-bag 20 miles, nor can they find any trace of such a man ever having been employed. Returns, showing the rates of payment, would be very voluminous and costly. As postmasters and others, who think themselves insufficiently paid, have every opportunity of making their claims known to the Department and of getting them considered, no general inquiry would appear to be 1700 needed. It may be well to give power of dealing with these cases by summary jurisdiction. I may add that, under the provisions of the Summary Jurisdiction Bill now before Parliament, such cases as Purcell's would be dealt with summarily.