§ Mr. STEADMAN (Tower Hamlets, Stepney)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Post-master General, whether the Postal authorities have issued an order stating that it will be impossible to allow leave of absence to any of the men of the 24th Middlesex Rifle Volunteer Corps., who are working in the Inland Section or the E.G. District Office, to attend camp; whether men belonging to other corps have been refused leave in a similar manner; and whether, having regard to the recent appeal made by the Government to employers, urging them to use every means in their power to give leave to their workmen for the purpose of attendance at the various camps of instruction, he will in some way provide for these men to have leave in order that they may make themselves efficient in drill and other duties as Volunteers.
§ THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. HANBURY,) PrestonThe Postmaster General regrets 773 that it has not been found possible to allow leave of absence to all the men of the 24th Middlesex Rifle Volunteer Corps engaged in the Inland branch of the Circulation Office and in the East Central District who have applied to attend camps, and it has also been found necessary to refuse a certain number of men belonging to other corps. This is partly due to the great pressure of work in the offices in question at the present time owing to the recent removal to Mount Pleasant, to the number of men who have been withdrawn for service at the front, and to the impossibility of obtaining a sufficient number of substitutes without imposing an undue strain on those members of the staff who are not Volunteers and imperilling the proper performance of their duties. It may be added that there are at the present moment between 300 and 400 men belonging to the 24th Middlesex in camp, and a further number will be similarly engaged next week.