§ MR. P. C. DOOGAN (Tyrone, E.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, if he can state for what reason Mr. Beck, late postmaster at Rock, county Tyrone, has been dismissed and the office transferred to a less suitable centre; whether he is aware that the Post Office business had been carried on at Rock, on the premises occupied by Mr. Beck, for an unbroken period of 26 years, and that a memorial in favour of continuing the old arrangement, signed by all the magistrates, clergymen, and principal residents of the postal district, has been forwarded to the Secretary of the General Post Office, Dublin; and, whether, in consideration of these facts, he will cause further inquiries to be made into this case with a view to ascertain if the prayer of this memorial can be granted?
§ MR. HANBURYMr. Beck was not the postmaster at Rock, but simply the purchaser of the house in which the Post Office had been held; and, as that house was a public-house, he was informed at the time of the purchase that the Post Office would not be continued there if another house could be obtained. It is true that the Post Office had been held in the same house for 25 years, and that a numerously-signed memorial was received in Mr. Beck's favour; but so 360 important is it now thought that a Post Office should not be conducted at a public-house, that the Postmaster General did not feel justified in complying with the request.
§ MR. DOOGANMay I ask the right hon. Gentleman whether he is aware that for the past 15 years the Post Office was carried on in an additional building, which was erected by direction of the Postal authorities, with a view to absolute isolation from the licensed premises, and that Mr. Beck was appointed Sub-Postmaster when he purchased the house in October last?
§ MR. HANBURYI am not aware of the facts mentioned by the hon. Member.