§ COLONEL DALBIAC (Camberwell, N.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether he can state how many telegraph clerks have received the double increments for technical telegraphy and postal qualifications; whether, seeing that female telegraphists in the large offices cannot qualify for the postal increment, he is aware that the concessions are of no value to telegraphists in the small country offices, the postal increment not being extended to them, and no facilities existing for them to acquire technical certificates; and whether, seeing that the Controller of the Central Telegraph Office and the chief electrician to the Post Office stated in their evidence to the Tweedmouth Committee that men of five years' service were underpaid, that their wages were scarcely sufficient to keep the men, and that the commercial value of their services was much higher than the wages received, the Postmaster General is prepared to consider the question, with a view to giving effect to the recommendation of these expert witnesses?
§ MR. HANBURYThe number of telegraphists who have received a double increment for technical qualifications is 286, and the number who have received a double increment for dual (postal and telegraph) qualifications is 15. It was never intended that the double increment for dual qualifications should apply to women in any office, because they nowhere do the work of sorters only; nor to men sorting clerks and telegraphists in the smaller offices, where they are trained, as a matter of course, in both telegraph and postal work. All telegraphists, whether in large or small offices, are eligible to obtain a double increment for technical qualifications on production of the prescribed certificates. The Tweedmouth Committee had the evidence of the Controller of the Central Telegraph Office and the chief electrician to the Post Office before them when they framed the recommendations which were embodied in their Report; but they were two out of several witnesses, and their evidence went to show that the pay 523 during the whole period of service was adequate, and even liberal. I may remind the honourable Member, however, that the Postmaster General and I have specially dealt with the case of these junior telegraphists, and have made it possible for them to obtain a triple increment at 21 years of age, instead of waiting until they are 24.