MR. T. M. HEALYI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, having regard to the fact that the proportion of superior appointments in the Dublin Telegraph Office is one in seven for men and one in twenty for women, and seeing that official Returns have shown that more than half the commercial work of the office is performed in the two female sections, will the Postmaster General take steps to grant a larger proportion of superior appointments to the Dublin female staff?
§ MR. HANBURYThe Postmaster General has within the last few days considered whether the duties in the Dublin Telegraph Office justify a larger proportion of superior appointments for the female staff, and has found that they do not. As to the relative amount of commercial work which is physically and otherwise the easier work performed by 908 the two staffs, it is possible that it may be as the hon. Member states, but without obtaining special Returns from Ireland—which would not apparently answer any useful purpose—the Postmaster General is unable to verify the statement. The disparity in the proportion of superior appointments in favour of the men, as compared with the women, is due in great part to the fact that all the night duties—which are devoted mainly to news work—devolve upon men, who are thus engaged about, 24 hours as against about half that time. All the technical work also devolves on the men, and that work frequently reckons as superior work.