§ MR. J. A. M. MACDONALD (Tower Hamlets, Bow)I beg to ask the Postmaster General, whether the Chairman of the Tracers' Association was recently degraded and his pay reduced for forwarding to him, at the request of the Association, a resolution unanimously adopted by its members; and whether, if so, there is any regulation of the Service which prohibits the officials of any union of Post Office servants from communicating with him on behalf of the union?
§ THE POSTMASTER GENERAL (Mr. ARNOLD MORLEY, Nottingham, E.)It is the fact that a tracer was recently degraded and his pay reduced because he telegraphed a resolution to me direct at my private residence, instead of submitting a memorial through his superior officers. Not much more than a year before, however, he had, in conjunction with others, committed precisely the same offence, and with those others expressed regret for the action, and asked permission to withdraw the papers. It is obvious, therefore, that the tracer in question was well aware of the rule which he wilfully disregarded. That rule, which, I believe, obtains not only in the Post Office but throughout the Civil Service, directs officers to forward memorials with reference to the conditions of their service to the head of their department through their superior officers, and I must adhere to a rule which is essential both in the interest of individuals and of the discipline of the staff.