HC Deb 11 August 1898 vol 64 cc892-3
MR. STEADMAN (Tower Hamlets, Stepney)

I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, what were the grounds for the refusal of the Comptroller of the Post Office to accept from the Secretary of the London District Council of the Postmen's Federation a petition protesting against his decision that auxiliary service shall not count for stripes in the event of established service 'being blemished; is he aware that, if the departmental construction of the Tweed-mouth Committee's recommendation is given effect to, it will mean that an established postman who commits a fault in the third year of his service, and consequently might have to serve five or perhaps eight years for his first stripe, will, should he have been an auxiliary for 10 years prior to being appointed on the establishment, have to serve in all 15 years at least for one stripe; and is he aware that there are cases in the service of men who have put in 10 years' auxiliary service before appointment as established postmen, and having since that appointment committed a fault, which has led to the grant of the stripe being deferred, have also had withheld from them the stripe to which, according to the Tweedmouth Committee's Report, they are entitled for 10 years' unblemished auxiliary service?

THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. HANBURY, Preston)

It is not the practice to receive representations from any postman professing to act on behalf of a mass meeting, and the postman to whom the honourable Member refers was informed that representations as to alleged grievances can only be received from persons who are themselves affected by the matter which it is desired to bring under notice. As regards the second paragraph of the Question, I would point out that the terms of the Tweedmouth Committee Report respecting good conduct stripes are as follows— Stripes are the reward of good service and good conduct, and we are strongly of opinion that each stripe should in itself be a proof that it was awarded after five years' unblemished service. In view of this recommendation, in which the Postmaster General entirely concurs, service broken by serious misconduct cannot be reckoned towards good conduct stripes.