§ MR. TUITE (Westmeath, N.)asked the Postmaster General, Whether four additional letter carriers have been added to the staff of the Mullingar Post Office within the last 18 months; whether, notwithstanding the recognized rule of the Department, that where any such increase is made in the staff of a post office, extra stripes are provided for that office, no additional provision has been made for the Mullingar Office; whether three of the letter carriers at Mullingar are, by reason of their years of service, due stripes for a considerable time past; whether, although recommended for same by the Postmaster, the stripes have not as yet been awarded; and, what is the cause of the delay?
§ THE POSTMASTER GENERAL (Mr. RAIKES) (Cambridge University)The short Notice which the hon. Member has given has not admitted of my making inquiry into the particular case of Mullingar. I may observe, however, that in the Question the rule of the Department is not stated quite correctly. Except in the case of five or six Post Offices—and those of the largest size—good conduct stripes are allotted not to offices, but to districts; and it by no means follows that, because a particular office receives an increase of force, the good conduct stripes which the increase carries will fall to the same office. There is hardly an office in the Kingdom at which postmen who have served the prescribed periods are not waiting for stripes; and as these become vacant they are conferred upon the men who, out of the whole of the district, are considered to have the prior claim to the distinction.