§ DR. TANNERI beg to ask the Postmaster General if he is aware that the uniform rate of overtime payment allowed by the Treasury for clerks of the Second Division and paid to officers of that class in Departments other than the Post Office is 1s. 6d. per hour; and, if so, why are the Second Division clerks in the Post Office not paid at that rate; and whether sorting clerks, postmen, and other classes of the minor establishment of the Post Office are paid for overtime at a rate and a quarter with a maximum of 1s. 7d. per hour; and, if so, will he extend this principle of payment to the major establishment, in so far as it is covered by the present limit allowed by the Treasury?
§ SIR J. FERGUSSONIn the Post Office, subject to a prescribed maximum, Second Division clerks are paid for overtime rateably upon their salaries. The practice could hardly be 1116 altered in the case of Second Division clerks without a similar alteration throughout the Post Office generally; and this would involve a very large outlay. An application to that effect has, however, been received from some of their number and it is under consideration. It is not proposed to extend the principle of paying for overtime at a rate and a quarter beyond the classes which now receive it.