§ MR. MAURICE HEALY (Cork)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether postmen of more than twenty-five years of age are not eligible to compete for the position of sorting clerk and telegraphist until they have first passed a qualifying examination in telegraphy, and whether, as no other class of public servants have to qualify in official duties before being submitted to the educational test, the regulations will be so modified as to permit postmen over twenty-five years of age to first compete at the educational examination, and, if successful, to allow them a certain period within which to qualify in official duties before being finally promoted.
§ MR. HANBURYPersons who are above twenty-five years of age and are candidates for appointment as sorting clerks and telegraphists are required, before being allowed to compete in the educational examination, to show that they have certain postal and telegraph qualifications, because persons above that age who do not possess the required qualifications find them very difficult to acquire, and their appointment without such a proviso is calculated to lead only to disappointment. It is not proposed to make any alteration in the present practice.