§ MR. SCHWANNI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster-General, whether the Belfast Post Office authorities have made the minimum pay of each class the same as the maximum pay of the class below; and, if so, whether this arrangement has received his sanction; and, if not, would he take steps to increase the minimum of the higher classes, with retrospective action to September last, the date of the last revision.
§ MR. HANBURYUnder the last revision of the indoor force at Belfast the minimum of each class is the same as the maximum pay of the class below, except in the case of the class of clerks where the minimum is overlapped to the extent of 17s. a year by the maximum of the sorting clerks and telegraphists. The scales of pay are those authorised by the Treasury for the offices in the class into which Belfast falls. An officer who has been at the maximum of his scale for more than a year, on promotion enters the higher class at the minimum of the scale, plus one year's increment. If he has been at the maximum of his scale for less than a year he receives his first increment in the new class when that year has been completed. The Postmaster-General does not think it necessary to alter the scales as suggested.