§ MR. CAREW (Kildare, N.)asked the Postmaster General, Whether the deduction of pay during the absence from duty of clerks employed at the Central Telegraph Office, owing to sickness, was made subsequent to the transfer of the Telegraph Companies to the Government in 1870, in order to check absence without sufficient cause; whether this reason is inoperative in cases of serious illness certified by the chief medical officer or by a duly qualified doctor; whether clerks employed in the Intelligence Department of the General Post Office, who are officers of similar rank to the clerks above referred to, receive full pay; and, whether, under the circumstances, he will consider the desirability of granting full pay to the officers of both Departments?
§ THE POSTMASTER GENERAL (Mr. RAIKES) (Cambridge University)On the acquisition of the telegraphs by the State, the reason for subjecting the telegraphists at the Central Station to a deduction during absence from illness was that they might not be subject to different Rules from those which applied to Post Office servants of similar grade. These Rules have been considered again and again, and I am not prepared to alter them. Full pay during absence is confined, as a rule, to those who occupy the more responsible positions. The officers of the Intelligence Branch are picked men, selected from the whole body of telegraphists throughout the Kingdom.