§ MR. E. H. BAYLEY (Camberwell, N.)I beg to ask the Postmaster General if he will explain why, in the Circulation Department of the General Post Office, a distinction is made between officers earning under 24s. per week and those earning over that amount, when remunerating them for services rendered on Bank Holidays; why the former are compelled to claim a day's pay, or a half day's pay, as the case may be, because of the smallness of the amount the payment by pro rata would give them, while the latter have a day's leave in lieu of monetary payment; whether the men on the lower scale have frequently petitioned, craving the privilege of being allowed the time instead of payment, and been refused; whether a large number of men have not yet been paid for work done so far back as Easter Monday last; and will he endeavour to have such a delay prevented in future?
§ THE POSTMASTER GENERAL (Mr. A. MORLEY, Nottingham, E.)By the Rules of the Service a holiday is granted to each man belonging to the Established Sorting Staff on a Bank Holiday if he can be spared from duty, and if not, then upon some other day preceding the next Bank Holiday, provided that a substitute can be procured at the approved rate, and that such rate does not exceed the pay of the officer to whom the holiday is granted. Under this Rule it has not been possible to accede to the occasional Petitions to which the hon. Member refers. If a subsequent holiday cannot be given to a man who has been required to attend on Bank Holiday, then he receives extra payment for his Bank Holiday work at the same rate as his ordinary wages. The payment for past Bank Holiday work cannot be completed until the interval before the next Bank Holiday has nearly expired; otherwise oppor- 463 tunities of affording a holiday to some of the staff would be lost.