§ MR. HENNIKER HEATON (Canterbury)I beg to ask the Postmaster General the number of complaints of postal offences and irregularities sent in by the public last year to his Department; the number of prosecutions of officials instituted by the Departmental Authorities last year, and the number of men dismissed in the same period for irregularities; and the total amount refunded to the public by the Department last year in respect of losses in transmission and overcharges?
§ THE POSTMASTER GENERAL (Mr. RAIKES,) Cambridge UniversityThe number of Post Office servants prosecuted during the year 1890 was 95, and the total amount refunded by the Department in respect of losses in transmission during the same period was £2,058 4s. 8d. No record, as far as I know, is kept of the number of complaints addressed to the Department in the year. Nor could any purpose be served by doing so, as it would be an endless task to discriminate between those which deserve and receive consideration and those which receive but do not deserve it. The latter class is, of course, immensely in excess of the former. The number of men dismissed for all causes, independently of the London strike in July last, was 204, out of a total force of 61,000—or 3 per cent.—which I think the House will regard as a very small average of misconduct.