§ MR. BLANE (for Mr. P. O'BRIEN)I beg to ask the Postmaster General if he will explain on what grounds officers employed on counter duties in the Metropolitan post offices are allowed 3s. per week to cover risks of mistakes in cash transactions, while officers in the provinces, whose risks are quite as great, and whose salaries, out of which losses have to be made good, are smaller, are not given any risk allowance; and whether he will see that all officers employed on counter duties are treated alike?
§ SIR J. FERGUSSONAttendance at the public counter is a recognised part of the duties of a sorting clerk and telegraphist at a provincial office, and the pecuniary risk attaching to this duty has been taken into account in fixing the wages of the class. In London the force employed on counter work is quite distinct from the force employed on sorting duties, and the rates of pay are different. Moreover counter duties in London, as a rule, are performed under much greater pressure than in provincial offices.