§ VISCOUNT WOLMERI beg to ask the Postmaster General whether, in view of the approaching discussion on the Post Office Estimates, he is able to inform the House of the grounds on which he stated to the telegraph clerks in the Memorandum of 25th June, 1894, that the abolition of classification, as unanimously desired by that body, would be detrimental to its interests?
§ THE POSTMASTER GENERAL (Mr. A. MORLEY,) Nottingham, E.The noble Lord will, of course, understand that it is impossible in answer to a question to deal adequately with a subject of this importance, but I may say that I arrived at the conclusion that the existence of classification was advantageous to the interests of the staff after 1011 ascertaining that in every case in London, and in the vast majority of cases in the Provinces, the men promoted from the Second to the First Class had not attained the maximum of their class, and therefore obtained a distinct pecuniary benefit from their promotion. But I must point out to the noble Lord that I defended classification not only in the interests of the staff as a whole, but in the interests of its more able members and of the Public Service. Its abolition would, in my opinion, place all the telegraphists on a common plane, while its existence enables the heads of the Department to advance men of conspicuous ability and merit, and thus supply the incentive to exertion which is at the root of all progress.