§ MR. JAMES O'CONNOR, (Wicklow, W.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, on what grounds rural postmen, employed at offices where a recent increase has been made to the maximum wages, who were in receipt of a compensation allowance in lieu of their right to carry private parcels, have not been allowed to benefit by the increase; does the Postmaster General intend that these, men shall be no longer entitled to this compensation; and will he quote the date and particulars of the Treasury's authority to discontinue the payment of these compensation allowances?
§ MR. HANBURYIn giving effect to the recommendations of Lord Tweed-mouth's Committee, it was at first arranged that the compensation allowances made to rural postmen for the loss of earnings in carrying private parcels should be added to and incorporated with their ordinary wages, but after considering representations which have been made by the postmen on the subject the Postmaster General recently obtained the sanction of the Lords of the Treasury for continuing the allowances as separate payments distinct from the ordinary wages, as was formerly the case, and instructions have already been issued for giving effect to this arrangement as from April 1st, 1897.