§ MR. SHEEHAN (Kerry, E.)asked the Postmaster General, Whether complaints have reached him that, in the majority of the head post offices in the Northern Division of Ireland, Postmasters do not expend the allowances granted to them for properly heating and providing their offices with stationery for official purposes; whether, as a consequence, members of the respective staffs of these offices are frequently incapacitated during the Winter Season by colds contracted in discharge of their duties; whether the Surveyor, Mr. Walter Ahern, and his numerous assistants frequently visit such offices when members of the staff are incapacitated from illness and their places supplied by substitutes, and whether they have taken cognisance of the alleged failure on the part of Postmasters to carry out the intentions of the Department in the expending of their allowances; whether the clerks in these offices are also obliged to provide themselves at their own expense with the stationery necessary for the due discharge of their official duties; and, whether he will recommend a change in the present system, and require Postmasters of provincial offices to furnish receipts for all expenses incurred in the working of their offices?
§ THE POSTMASTER GENERAL (Mr. RAIKES) (Cambridge University)In reply to the hon. Member, I have to say that I shall be glad if he will furnish me with the names of the Postmasters who it is alleged are guilty of these practices. They are bound to show 772 how the allowances are expended, and to furnish receipts.