§ MR. STEADMANI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster-General, whether he can explain why rural postmen were paid on a different scale to town postmen for deliveries on last Christmas Day; is he aware that rural postmen were paid according to the distance covered, irrespective of the great length of time occupied in the unusually heavy deliveries, while town postmen were paid by the hour; and can he also explain why mounted rural postmen, who customarily do duty only six days per week, were called upon to deliver on Christmas Day, without receiving any extra remuneration by way of horse-keep allowance?
§ MR. HANBURYTown postmen are paid on a time basis for their ordinary attendance, and they are, therefore, 1222 paid on the same basis on Christmas Day; whereas Established rural postmen are paid for their ordinary duty with reference to the distance walked, rather than to the time occupied, and they are, therefore, paid on Christmas Day, not by time, but according to distance. As the conditions under which they work are entirely dissimilar, this difference of treatment is unavoidable. Mounted rural postmen were, like all other postmen, paid extra for their services on Christmas Day, but the keep of their horses was already provided for, as the allowance for horse-keep is a weekly one and covers the keep of the horse for seven days.