§ MR. HARRINGTON (Dublin, Harbour)I beg to ask the Postmaster General whether he is aware that there are at present in the General Post Office, Dublin, a number of postmen who passed an examination in 1886 qualifying them for the position of postmen or sorters; whether the postmen who obtained their certificate in 1886, entitling them to promotion to the position of sorter, are now precluded from that promotion until they again pass an examination prescribed under the Rule of 1893; and whether those who qualified in 1886 will be allowed the benefit of the Rule under which they passed their examination, or will receive compensation for the abolition of their privilege by the new Rule?
§ MR. A. MORLEYIn 1886 the Civil Service examination for the situation of postman was the same as that for the situation of sorter, so that the same certificate would do for either; but it by no 178 means followed that all who passed that examination would be appointed, or had any claim to be appointed, sorters. On the contrary, every man was appointed to a definite situation—either as postman or as sorter, and no one appointed to the one had any title to the other. No doubt, some postmen have since been appointed sorters; but this is not because they had any claim but because they promised well. The answer to the last paragraph is in the negative.