§ MR. MACALEESE (Monaghan, N.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, can he state upon what date the late postmistress of Newbliss, county Monaghan, tendered her resignation, when it 1256 was accepted, and upon what date was her successor appointed; was any public intimation of the vacancy given, and were candidates invited to offer themselves for the post; and, if so, how many made application, and will he explain why a communication made to the Department by Mr. Kelly, of Newbliss, about the 18th of January, stating that the resignation of the postmistress was imminent, and asking that the public might have a chance of competing for the vacancy, was answered that nothing was known of the pending resignation; and is he aware that out of the ten or eleven persons employed in connection with the Newbliss Post Office, in a district four-fifths of the population of which are Roman Catholic, all but one belong to the Protestant religion.
§ MR. HANBURYThe sub-postmistress tendered her resignation on the 10th March, and her successor was appointed on the 11th of April. An application for the appointment was made by Miss Mary Daly, who has had ten years' experience in post office duties, and had been assistant at Newbliss for two years. Miss Daly's claims and qualifications were such as to render her well fitted for the appointment, and it was not thought that any useful purpose would be served by inviting applications from the public. In January last, when Mr. Kelly made the application referred to, the Department had no reason to suppose that the late sub-postmistress intended to resign her appointment, and Mr. James Kelly was accordingly informed, in reply to his inquiry, that a vacancy was not then anticipated. The Postmaster General has no cognisance of the religious beliefs of those employed in the Newbliss Post Office.