§ MR. M'CARTAN (Down, S.)I beg to ask the Postmaster General what is the usual time that second class clerks are employed in performing temporary first class duties at the Central Telegraph Office in order to qualify for promotion to the higher class; whether this period is of the same duration in every case; and, if not, what are the causes of its extension or diminution; whether, when clerks are employed on duties belonging to a higher class, they are placed on the promotion list; whether it is the practice in the Central Telegraph Office to assign their duties to first and second class clerks in accordance with their abilities, without reference to their salary, service, or class, whereby many of the most important wires are frequently in charge of second class clerks in preference to first class clerks; and, whether, as under the present system it is impossible to prevent one deserving officer being more fortunate than another in obtaining promotion, he will now reconsider the question of the organisation of the staff, notwithstanding the communication already made to the officers of the second class?
§ THE POSTMASTER GENERAL (Sir JAMES FERGUSSON,) Manchester, N.E.(1.) There is no usual time; it varies according to the exigencies of the Service. (2.) It is not known what is meant by the term "promotion list." The qualifications of officers for promotion are considered when vacancies occur. (3.) When duties are being arranged in advance, first class telegraphists are selected as far as possible for the more important duties, but, as in any large office, arrangements are made according to circumstances. (4.) The organisation of the office has, as before stated, been settled quite recently, and I do not think it necessary to alter it. No conceivable system would prevent one officer from being more fortunate than another in obtaining promotion.