§ MR. STEADMANI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether he is aware that a number of telegraphists in the cable room, Central Telegraph Office, have boon punished for exceeding, the thirty minutes allowed for meal relief by one or two minutes; and that the plea of delay in the refreshment branch has been held unsatisfactory in the case of an officer who was supplied with bad meat, and needed the food changed; and whether, seeing that the dinner period is the only relief time permitted in; duties which are frequently of ton and twelve hours duration, the Postmaster General will authorise a relaxation of the rule.
§ MR. HANBURYNo telegraphist in the cable room of the Central Telegraph Office has been punished for exceeding his dinner time—thirty minutes—under the circumstances stated in the question. When the delay has been three minutes and upwards he has been admonished; and frequent repetitions of those delays have been punished by the infliction of extra duty. But when they are proved to have arisen from causes over which the telegraphist had no control the excess time is excused. In the absence of 657 particulars of the case to which the hon. Member refers, the Postmaster General is unable to give any information. In his opinion no relaxation of the rule, as I have stated it, is called for.