§ MR. CLANCY (Dublin Co., N.)I beg to ask the Postmaster General whether he has received a protest from the postmen of Dublin against the recent appointment of Mr. A. Taplin to the office of Assistant Inspector of Postmen; and, if so, whether any reply has been given to it; and will he explain on what grounds this appointment has been made, seeing that it involves not only a departure from a rule of the Post Office, that postmen should be officered by men selected from their own branch of the Service, but the passing over of 200 employés with superior claims?
§ MR. A. MORLEYThe appointment of Assistant Inspector of Postmen is ordinarily made from the class of charge-takers, and on this class Mr. Taplin stood, counting from the top, No. 6. The number of postmen, therefore, over whose heads he passed was not 200 but 5, and it was certified to me by those whose special duty it is to inform themselves on the point that of these five persons no one was qualified for the appointment of Assistant Inspector.