§ SIR JOHN LENGI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representint the Postmaster-General, whether the rule of the Post Office when inspectors of postmen are on their holidays is to appoint capable postmen, irrespective of seniority, as their substitutes; whether he is aware that the Inspector of Postmen at Dundee is at present on holiday leave, and a second-class telegraphist is acting as substitute for him, and why the general rule is not followed at Dundee; and, whether future vacancies in the class of inspectors will, as in other towns, be reserved exclusively for postmen.
§ MR. HANBURYNo fixed rule exists. No such officer as second-class telegraphists now exists. Otherwise the answer to the second paragraph is in the affirmative. This practice has been followed at Dundee for many years in consequence of none of the senior postmen being qualified to act as inspector. In case of a vacancy ill the class of inspectors the claims and qualifications of all the postmen would be considered before those of sorting clerks and telegraphists.