§ CAPTAIN NORTON (Newington W.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether, in view of the Government appeal to private employers to give facilities to their workmen for attending Volunteer camps, the Postmaster General will consider the advisability and policy of setting an example in this particular by now giving to the telegraphists of the Central Office, London, who are Volunteers, permission to attend the Aldershot camp for training purposes, which has hitherto been refused.
§ THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. HANBURY,) PrestonEvery effort will be made to release as many Volunteers as possible for the purpose of attending camp. But the months of July and August are the periods of the greatest pressure in the Central Telegraph Office, which has already lost a large number of men by reason of the war in South Africa; and it is, of course, a matter of the first importance to prevent any possibility of a breakdown in the telegraph service.