§ MR. PATRICK O'BRIEN (Kilkenny)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, what number of hours per day are boy clerks engaged in the General Post Office, London; and whether any boy clerks are, under any circumstances, kept from ten to twelve hours on duty; and, if so, are they paid overtime?
§ MR. HANBURYThe hours of boy clerks in the General Post Office are six a day, and, as a rule, they are not allowed to be employed at all on extra duty. In, the exceptional cases in which they are occasionally allowed to be so employed, they are either paid for the overtime or are allowed a corresponding deduction from their attendance on another day. On one occasion only, when the work was exceptionally heavy, two boy clerks were kept on duty as much as ten or twelve hours, and in that case they were paid for the overtime. Although the hon. Member mentions boy clerks only, it may be that he intended the question to apply also to boy copyists. The hours of these are fixed by Civil Service Regulations, and are 39 hours a week, with a maximum of 12 hours a week overtime. They, of course, are paid by the hour.