§ SIR J. FERGUSSON (Manchester, N.E.)I beg to ask the Postmaster General if he can state approximately the number of vacancies for established postmen which occurred in the Metropolitan district and in the Provinces respectively in the years 1892-3, and the number of telegraph messengers who were eligible for such vacancies; and whether the preference of soldiers over telegraph messengers and outsiders had come into operation within the Metropolitan District in the said year?
§ THE POSTMASTER GENERAL (Mr. A. MORLEY,) Nottingham, E.I have the figures for the year ended August, 1892, and perhaps my right hon. Friend will be satisfied with those. They are as follows:—Number of postmen's vacancies filled in London during the year, 522; in the rest of the United Kingdom, 1,478. For these vacancies, there were in London 245 telegraph messengers eligible, and in the rest of the Kingdom 543. The policy of giving preference to soldiers over telegraph messengers has never come into operation, because the list of those with claims was not exhausted when the rule was altered. The preference to soldiers over outsiders in those cases in which there are no telegraph messengers with claims was made effective in November, 1891, and is still in force.