CLASS I. (Hansard, 24 May 1894)

§ * MR. LAWRENCE (Liverpool, Abercromby)
, drew attention to the Liverpool Post Office, which, he said, seemed to be neglected year after year. No less a sum than £175,000 had been expended for purchasing land for a site which now for several years had remained actually bringing in no interest whatever to the public. In addition to that, an Estimate had been entered into to the tune of £180,000, and yet only the small sum of £10,000 had been expended for the last two years up to April last. The previous year the House voted £6,000 to be spent in the prosecution of the work, but this year the amount had fallen to £3,000. It was surprising that after such a large sum had been spent in purchasing a site, and a large expenditure of money contemplated for providing a new building, so very little should have been done". The Liverpool Post Office had been 1253 condemned as sanitarily unsuitable by the Medical Authorities, but yet this unsanitary state of affairs was allowed to continue, and it was time some more serious effort was made to meet the local wants. He thought, contrasting the Act of the Secretary to the Treasury towards Liverpool with his action towards other towns, the right hon. Gentleman would have some difficulty in justifying the course he had pursued. In Cardiff £53,000 was to be expended in rebuilding the post office, and of that estimated ultimate expenditure the Government were this year taking no less than £18,000. In Nottingham there was to be an expenditure on similar buildings of £40,600, and this year no less than £15,000 was to be spent. How was it these towns were thus advantaged and Liverpool left out in the cold? It was a singular fact that within the last 12 months the President of the Local Government Board had written to the Corporation of Liverpool urging that, having regard to the lack of employment in the district, they should do what they could to push on any local works which it was desirable should be executed. But here was an Imperial work which it was absolutely necessary in the interests of the health of the Post Office officials should be proceeded with, which would afford work for many artizans, and yet the Government wrote down to the Local Authority asking them to find work for the unemployed. This was a pressing case, and inasmuch as this vast expenditure of £175,000 in land was bringing in no return whatever to the public it was desirable that a commencement should be made at once, and that they should push on to completion this most necessary building at an expense sanctioned by the authorities.

§ * THE FIRST COMMISSIONER OF WORKS (Mr. H. GLADSTONE, Leeds, W.)
said, that, as the hon. Member was aware, money was: not very plentiful this year, and the comparative claims of localities had been examined with special closeness. There had been no favour extended to one place at the expense of another, but the claims of each locality had been considered on the merits. The case with regard to Liverpool stood thus:—The foundations were in and the quantities were now being considered. That was an operation that would take some time, but he thought he 1254 could assure the hon. Member that the work on the superstructure would be taken in hand almost immediately after Christmas and pushed forward vigorously.

§ * MR. WEIR (Ross and Cromartie)
complained of the disproportion of the expenditure in London and in Edinburgh and Scotland in various post and telegraph services, and urged that any surplus funds should be devoted to the work of telegraphic extension in the Western Highlands and Islands of Scotland.

§ MR. TOMLINSON
said, that the complaint made with reference to the Liverpool Post Office applied to more than that particular office. Many similar post offices were reported to be in an unsanitary condition, and yet nothing was done until long after they were so reported. They had a Bill before the House at the present time requiring the owners of factories and workshops to find a definite space of air for the workmen employed in them, and the principle had been laid down that the Government ought to be model employers, but here they had the Government time after time employing persons in post offices under conditions entirely unsatisfactory. The excuse given was that there was very little money at their disposal; but that excuse would not be admitted in the case of a private employer, who would be at once compelled to comply with the provisions of the Act of Parliament.