§ MR. FLYNN (Cork, N.)I beg to ask the Postmaster General whether, when dealing with the case of the Cork telegraph office, under his new scheme, inquiry was made as to the relative cost of living and house rent in Cork and Belfast where the maximum pay for first-class telegraphists is to be 4s. a week in excess of that at Cork; whether such inquiry, if not already instituted, will be made; whether the classification and average amount of work performed 1369 by first-class telegraphists in Cork and Belfast are equal, and the strain on individuals identical in both cases; whether, in the new scheme, many offices that perform no night duty and deal with no heavy Press work are put on an equality with Cork with regard to pay though the latter, as regards both these harassing duties, is in the same category with the first-class offices in Ireland and England that are favoured with the new higher maximum salaries; and whether, in view of these circumstances, the claims of Cork, to be placed in an intermediate position as regards pay between these two classes of offices, as Belfast has been, will be considered, especially if the contention of the Cork staff that the cost of living and house rent in Belfast are not in excess of those in Cork should be found to be correct?
§ MR. RAIKESThe points referred to have been considered, but the hon. Member must perceive that the position of the various towns and offices must be regarded from a somewhat larger point of view, and I am satisfied that, looking at the conditions of Cork as a whole, that it has been placed in its proper category, and that it would not be right for me to alter the arrangement.