§ MR. STEADMAN (Tower Hamlets, Stepney)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether he is aware that on Thursday, 5th May, a clerk in the Central Telegraph Office named Waghorn was taken ill as a result of partaking of food in the refreshment branch of that office, and was released from duty and treated by the official medical officer; whether he is aware that a clerk named Cozens of the same office was taken ill in consequence of partaking of food at the same refreshment branch on Saturday, 7th May, and was forced to seek medical treatment; and whether he will state what measures the medical department, as the responsible body, are taking to investigate the causes of these ill effects of the food supplied by the Central Telegraph Office Refreshment Branch, and what steps they are taking to prevent a recurrence?
§ MR. HANBURYIt is the fact that Waghorn, a clerk in the Central Telegraph Office, reported himself ill on the morning of the 6th instant, and attributed the cause to his having dined in the refreshment room on the previous day. He was treated by the medical officer, and resumed duty next day. The chief medical officer reports that for some years past Waghorn has been treated for occasional attacks of indigestion. Cozens' indisposition was nettle rash, which the chief medical officer reports to be generally the result of some indiscretion of diet, although the food eaten may have been quite wholesome. The catering for the refreshment room is in the hands of a committee, upon which the staff is represented; and if anything is amiss, which there is no reason to think, the remedy is in their own hands.