§ MR. STEADMANI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster-General, is he aware that rural postmen who are compelled to spend hours at the end of their daily outward journey, and who have applied for a shelter allowance, have been offered a sum of only 30s. per year, or an equivalent of little more than a penny per day; is he aware that it is utterly impossible to obtain for such a sum the use of a room where a man may obtain shelter from inclement weather, and is he prepared to consider the matter with a view to granting an adequate allowance; and will he also consider the desirability of making an allowance for stove and fuel in cases in which huts (either of matchwood or corrugated iron) are provided as postmen's shelters by the Department?
§ THE FIRST COMMISSIONER OF WORKS (for Mr. HANBURY)It is not the case that rural postmen who have to wait some time at the end of their outward journey and who have applied for a shelter allowance have been offered a sum of 30s. a year. What has been offered is to put up a hut for any walking rural postman who may need it at the end of his outward walk, provided that he is required to wait for not less than two hours, and that he undertakes to use the shelter provided. This is contemplated as the normal arrangement, but in cases where the outward walk ends at or near a post-office, it is sometimes found that the postmaster is able to provide the postman with shelter on his premises, and for doing so the postmaster is to be granted an allowance not exceeding 30s. a year. Stoves are provided in the huts, but the postmen are expected to find their own fuel. Some of the men are able to earn money by doing other work 446 during the time that they have to wait, and it has hitherto not been considered necessary in the great majority of cases to provide shelters.