§ MR. JAMES HOZIER (Lanark, S.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether arrangements can be 1640 made to enable sub-postmasters to have some fixed period of leave in the course of the year without having to supply a substitute at their own expense?
§ MR. HANBURYThe Postmaster General regrets that the concession suggested by the hon. Member cannot be granted. The sub-postmasters of the kingdom are nearly 20,000 in number, and, as a rule, they have some other trade or occupation to which the Post Office business is, often, altogether subsidiary. Leave would never be refused them on their making arrangements to carry on their post office duties during their absence; but in no case in the Post Office—and I believe in no other Department of the State—is an officer allowed leave at the public expense whose whole time is not given to the public service.