§ MR. E. H. PICKERSGILL (Bethnal Green, S.W.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether he is aware that a few days' leave of absence to attend to urgent private family affairs has been refused (except with loss of pay) to an officer of 30 years' standing in the Post Office Savings Bank; whether it is usual in the Civil Service to grant to an officer special leave on the ground of family affairs; and, whether, in fact, much longer than that asked for in the present ease has been granted on such grounds to other officers in the Post Office Savings Bank?
§ THE SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. R. W. HANBURY,) PrestonThe grant of special leave on full pay in addition to ordinary leave depends, within certain limits, upon the discretion of the head of a Department. In the case referred to by the hon. Member, the clerk in question had already received 1221 considerable indulgence in the matter of leave during the year; and, as his record was not satisfactory, the Postmaster General did not feel justified in allowing him further leave at the public expense, but gave permission for him to absent himself without pay—a permission of which the clerk failed to avail himself. No special leave has ever been granted in the Savings Bank on such grounds as were put forward on this occasion.