§ MR. MADDISON (Sheffield, Brightside)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster-General, if he is aware that, notwithstanding the statement of Mr. Joyce before the Tweedmouth Com- 444 mittee that the practice of compelling postmen to work overtime in lieu of paying fines for unpunctuality had been discontinued, it has recently been reintroduced at the Sheffield post office, and that the Department have declined to accede to a memorial from the Sheffield city postmen praying that un-punctual attendance may be punished by fines instead of extra duty?
§ THE FIRST COMMISSIONER OF WORKS (Mr. A. AKERS DOUGLAS,) (for the SECRETARY to the TREASURY) Kent St. Augustine'sMy right honourable Friend has requested me to answer in his absence Questions addressed to him. It is not the case that the exaction of extra duty, instead of fines, for unpunctuality has recently been re-introduced at the Sheffield post office. Extra duty, rather than fines, was introduced at Sheffield, as well as at other towns in the North in the year 1893, and the practice has been maintained ever since. It is not thought expedient to make any change at Sheffield. The statement attributed to Mr. Joyce cannot be traced in the report of his evidence before the Committee.