§ MR. D. SULLIVAN (Westmeath, S.)On behalf of the hon. Member for North Louth, I beg to ask the Postmaster General if the information he was supplied with on the 18th December, as to the grievances of the sorting clerks of the Dublin and Cork Travelling Post Office; (American Mail), was correct in alleging that the time these officers have to wait occasionally at Queenstown for homeward mails is taken into account when reckoning their average weekly duty as 35 hours; whether it has since then been brought to his notice that if the time of waiting was reckoned it would bring the average weekly duty of this staff considerably over 48 hours per week; whether, since the withdrawal of portion of the homeward American mails to Southampton, the sustenance allowance of these officers has been very much reduced in consequence of not being so constantly employed as before, and of having to still keep permanent lodgings in Queenstown and Dublin; and if these officers are the sole exceptions of postal servants in the United Kingdom (no matter when or where employed) who are not in receipt of pay for Sunday work?
§ THE POSTMASTER GENERAL (Mr. A. MORLEY, Nottingham, E.)In reckoning the average weekly attendance of the sorting clerks employed in the Dublin and Cork Travelling 1134 Post Office at 35 hours account was taken not only of the time actually spent in sorting letters, but also of all time occupied by the men in travelling between Dublin and Queens-town without sorting work. I find, however, that the time occasionally spent at Queenstown between the departure of the outward and the arrival of the homeward mail was not included, as the men during such interval are not engaged in any work. Even if these periods were included, the average weekly attendance would still fall considerably below 48 hours. There has been some falling-off in the amount paid for trip allowances since the Inman line of steamers ceased to call at Queenstown, but the amount paid to the individual officers is still considerable (averaging for 11 months in 1893 £70 per man as against £79 for the same period in 1892). As regards Sunday pay, I can only repeat that officers whose attendance falls short of the full period of 48 hours a week cannot be regarded as entitled to extra pay for Sunday work.