§ MR. CHARLES SHAW (Stafford)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether it has been brought to his knowledge that the staff of the Stafford Station branch of the post office have been without a supply of drinking water since the 18th of June, 1900, and that the water which was supplied up to that period was, after analysis, certified by the medical officer as being unfit for use, and that two cases of typhoid resulted from the impurity; and, seeing that at the present time a supply of water for the staff, sixty-six per cent. of whom are on night duty, has to be obtained from the London and North-Western Railway Company and carried some distance in the daytime, and should that supply become exhausted the night staff are absolutely without same, whether he will take steps for the provision of a proper supply.
§ MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAINThe post office premises at Stafford Station are rented from the railway company, and up to November, 1900, the water for all purposes was obtained from the company's source of supply. Then, as a consequence of complaints as to the quality of the water, the supply was transferred to the Corporation mains; but, owing to the arrangement of the railway company's service, it was not practicable to obtain a continuous supply. Consequently arrangements were made to obtain a supply for the post office direct from the Corporation mains, and independent of the railway company's service; and this is now in operation.