§ MR. CUNINGHAME GRAHAMI beg to ask the Postmaster General whether, in cases where deductions are made from the wages of postal employés, 1512 they are nevertheless compelled to sign a receipt for the full wage; and whether this is the general practice; and, if not, whether any cases have come under his notice of Postmasters compelling men to sign a receipt for more money than they actually received?
§ MR. RAIKESThe practice, the invariable practice of the Post Office is to require its servants to sign for the amount of salary or wages which is actually chargeable to the Vote, the deductions, where deductions are made—as, for instance, for Income Tax—being shown in the form of receipt. But perhaps the hon. Member is referring to payments made by local Postmasters to those who are their own servants, and not the servants of the Department. Here a certain laxity of practice has, in some comparatively few instances, been found to prevail. Postmasters not infrequently receive a specific allowance for a specific purpose, and it has occasionally happened that from such purpose a part of the allowance has been diverted. Wherever this has been found to be so the Department has adopted very stringent measures.