§ DR. R. MACDONALD (Ross and Cromarty)asked the Postmaster General, Whether it is true, as rumoured, that his promised inquiry into the grievances of the surveyors' stationary clerks, as regards rank, status, and pay, will result in only the allowance to about a third of their number of £10 or £20 additional subsistence pay, with, in a few cases, promotion from the second to the first class of sorting clerks and telegraphists; whether he is aware that it is intended to put still more arduous work on these men, hitherto performed by the surveyors' travelling staff; and, if so, what is the objection to classifying the stationary clerks as surveyors' clerks proper, putting them on the surveyors' establishment, and severing their nominal connection with offices at which they perform no duties whatever; and, whether any increased pay or prospects of promotion are to be held out to the large proportion of stationary clerks whose position and pay will not be affected as to the rumoured decision, their circumstances and work being identical with their fellow clerks now being slightly benefited?
§ THE POSTMASTER GENERAL (Mr. RAIKES) (Cambridge University)I have recently considered the position and duties of the 41 stationary clerks referred to, and am about to make certain recommendations to the Treasury. I should not be, however, justified in recommending that the appointments should be converted into surveyors' clerkships. The effect of the proposed changes, if approved of by the Treasury, will unquestionably be to improve generally the positions of the stationary clerks; but I am not in a position to state what I have proposed.