MR. TANKERVILLE CHAMBER-LAYNE (Southampton)I beg to ask the Postmaster General if he will permit scientific or technical witnesses who are not members of the postal telegraph service to give evidence before the Committee to show the difference between the work done by the postal telegraph clerks and that done by the letter-sorters with whom they have been classed; and whether he will permit one or more representatives of the telegraph clerks to be present at the sittings of the Committee with power to call, examine, and cross-examine witnesses, 1660 and to address the Committee on the evidence laid before them; if so, if he will grant leave of absence to these persons while so engaged?
§ MR. ARNOLD MORLEYThe Committee on Post Office Establishments have a discretionary power to examine any persons in the service of the Department other than those belonging to the clerical establishments of the chief offices who, the Committee may have reason to believe, have authority to make representations to them on the position and prospects of any classes of employés in the service of the Department. The Committee are also authorised to send for any persons outside the service of the Department who from their position and their experience may be able to give them information on the remuneration and circumstances of persons engaged in private employment whose position they may consider analogous to that of the employés of the Post Office. It rests with the Committee, and not with myself, to determine how far they will avail themselves of the authority. I understand that the Committee have decided to sit in public, but I presume that they will regulate their proceedings by the ordinary rules which govern the practice of such inquiries, and will retain the examination of witnesses in their own hands.