§ MR. THOMAS BAYLEY (Derbyshire, Chesterfield)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether his attention has been called to the discontent existing among postal and telegraph employees with reference to their conditions of service; whether he is aware that at conferences and public meetings resolutions have been passed asking for the appointment of a Committee of Members of Parliament to inquire into the nature of the alleged grievances; and whether the Postmaster General will consider the advisability of recommending that a Committee composed of Members of this House be appointed to investigate and report.
§ MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAINThe answer to the first two paragraphs of the hon. Member's question is in the affirmative. It is, however, only five years since the conditions of employment of Post Office servants were exhaustively investigated by a Committee, of which Lord Tweedmouth was chairman. All the recommendations of that Committee were accepted by the Government, and have been carried out at a very heavy cost to the taxpayer, amounting in the present year to upwards of £500,000. No new circumstances have arisen which were not before that Committee; and the Postmaster General is not prepared to recommend another similar inquiry, causing as it would great disturbance of ordinary business, and keeping the staff in a state of unrest which is detrimental to efficiency.