§ MR. STEADMAN (Tower Hamlets, Stepney)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, if there is any regulation in the Post Office Savings Bank for preventing a trade union from withdrawing part of its funds from that Department after the withdrawal notice has been signed by the three trustees elected 1212 in accordance with the rules of the union; and what steps he took, if any, to ascertain if those complaining in the case of the United Ladies' Tailors and Mantle Makers' Association were bonâ fide members of that union?
§ MR. HANBURYThe title of a trade union having an account with the Post Office Savings Bank to withdraw its funds through its duly-elected trustees is recognised by the Postmaster General. But the Postmaster General may, in his discretion, require proofs to his satisfaction of the identity of the trustees applying, and of their authority to withdraw the money. When, therefore, any substantial objection, as was the case in the present instance, is raised to the title of the trustees, it becomes a dispute within the Savings Bank Acts, and the Postmaster General does not recognise the trustees until the objection is removed. In accordance with practice, it was left to the trustees of the United Ladies' Tailors and Mantle Makers' Association to remove the objections which had been raised by certain of the members, and when these objections were removed, the request of the trustees for the withdrawal of the money was complied with. The dissentients called at the Central Savings Bank and satisfied the authorities in person that they were members of the association.