§ MR. GALLOWAY (Manchester, S.W.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether, although the Tweedmouth Committee decided that telegraphists performing superior duties for nine months should have duty pay, in order to avoid this concession at Manchester properly qualified senior men have been removed from superior duties and placed under junior officers; and whether the Postmaster General will state whether the rule issued in that town, to the effect that no officer must act in a class above his own sufficiently long enough to claim duty pay, is issued with his knowledge and approval.
§ THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. HANBURY,) PrestonIt has been the practice at Manchester so to arrange that the performance by substitutes of the superior duties shall not be unduly prolonged in individual cases. This is done with the view of giving as many officers as possible the opportunity of qualifying, or showing their fitness for promotion. There is no such rule in force at Manchester, or elsewhere, as that indicated in the last 276 paragraph of the hon. Member's question; and as matter of fact the allowance for the superior duties has been paid in some cases. There are at the present moment two officers at Manchester who are drawing it.