§ MR. CAREW (Kildare, N.)(for Mr. M'CARTAN) (Down, S.) asked the Postmaster General, Whether it is a fact that some transferred clerks employed at the Central Telegraph Office are paid higher salaries than London clerks of equal service; whether he will raise the salaries of the latter, so as to place them on a footing of equality with the former; and, whether, having regard to the fact that some of the officers on the second-class are at present receiving less pay under the present and improved classification than they might have received under the old, he will take steps to compensate them for their loss?
§ SIR HERBERT MAXWELL (A LORD of the TREASURY) (Wigton)(who replied) said: A few telegraphists, transferred from the Provinces to the Central Telegraph Office, are paid at a higher rate than other telegraphists of equal service in that Office. The Postmaster General is not prepared to raise the salaries of the latter so as to place them on an equality with the others; because, in the case of the officers transferred from the Provinces, there were special circumstances justifying a special rate of pay, which did not exist in the case of those officers who had always been employed at the Central Telegraph Office. As regards the latter part of the hon. Member's Question, the Postmaster General is not prepared to admit that the officers on the second-class at the Central Telegraph Office will suffer any loss. A large number of the officers on that class have already derived advantages from the improved classification, and the prospects of all have been decidedly improved.