§ MR. STEADMANI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether, seeing that counter-clerks and telegraphists employed at the Eastern District Post Office and the Aldgate branch office are compelled to serve at the public counter during tea time, the Postmaster General will take steps to provide them with relief during this period in the interests of the staff and the public.
§ MR. HANBURYThe counter-clerks and telegraphists at the offices in question as at other offices in London—are allowed half an hour for refreshments in the middle of the day, during an attendance of eight hours, but they are not entitled to a second interval for tea. No objection, however, is raised to their partaking of tea when on duty, or of leaving the counter for this purpose when the state of the duty permits, which generally happens, as counter work slackens down late in the day. The Postmaster General is not prepared to concede to counter-clerks and telegraphists the right to two intervals for meals in a normal attendance of eight hours.