§ MR. STEADMANI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether, seeing that the Post Office circular of 10th August, 1897, states that the introduction of an efficiency bar is not intended to check the progress of an efficient officer, he will explain why Mr. Lacon, telegraphist, of Birmingham, the local secretary to the Postal Telegraph Clerks' Association, has been stopped at the efficiency barrier for indisposition to submit to authority; and whether the Postmaster General will personally investigate the case, with a view of discovering the reasons which have led to this treatment.
§ MR. HANBURYThe Tweedmouth Committee recommended that "no officer should be allowed to pass this bar without a satisfactory certificate of the excellence of his conduct and of his ability to perform the highest duties of his class;" and in the circular referred to the Postmaster General explained that "under the new system no officer's progress will be checked whose character and efficiency would have entitled him to promotion under the old system." The necessary certificate could not be given in Mr. Lacon's case, and consequently he cannot be allowed to pass the bar at present.