§ MR. BIGGAR (for Mr. HEALY)asked the Postmaster General, If he has yet completed his inquiries in the case of the three mail messengers at Dublin, and when they may expect a refund of the money which he stated they should have received between the years 1881 and 1883; if he would explain why all the Irish acting mail guards were not dealt with alike, as was the case in England when a similar class was abolished there, by appointing the whole staff to the sorting class as vacancies occurred; and if, as this new class of three mail messengers is the only one on the strength of the Dublin or London offices which does not receive an increment from the date of appointment, will he 1895 grant them a scale of pay by increment equal to that now paid to indoor messengers and hall porters?
§ MR. FAWCETTSir, as promised in my reply to the hon. Member's former Question, I have now considered whether it would be feasible to let these three mail messengers have arrears of pay from July, 1881, and I am glad to have been able to decide in the affirmative. As they have now been incorporated into the class of postmen and the postmen's scale rises by annual increments, the Question put third by the hon. Member does not arise. It is right to state, however, that these three men, being already above the maximum of the postmen's scale, will not receive any further advance. In Ireland the acting mail guards have been treated exactly as they were in England. Some—these being the better qualified among them—received appointments as sorters, and the others did not.