HC Deb 09 August 1901 vol 99 cc304-6
MR. JOHN CAMPBELL (Armagh, S.)

I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, if he can state what is the principle of preferment which obtains at the Armagh post office; whether he is aware that a member of the staff, withdrawn over two years ago for special duty, was recently brought back and given the supervisorship with an extra weekly allowance, and again withdrawn, so that ho is now in receipt of two sets of allowances, while his work at Armagh is performed by another man who receives nothing, and whether he will state what amount has been expended in this case by way of special allowances; whether he is aware that at the Armagh post office no Roman Catholic has ever got a single step beyond the initial grade; and whether he will see that the disabilities in the matter of promotion under which Roman Catholic servants of the post office labour will be abolished.

MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAIN

In all cases of promotion the officer who is considered to be best qualified for the vacant position is chosen. It is a fact that a member of the Armagh staff was temporarily withdrawn from that office in December, 1898, for special duty in a surveyor's office, and that when the supervisorship at Armagh became vacant he was chosen to fill it as being the officer best qualified for the post. Ho took up the appointment at Armagh in July. 1900, but in April last his services were again temporarily required in the surveyor's office, where a great pressure of work existed. According to rule, his substitute cannot be paid a supervising allowance until he has been acting for his superior officer for more than nine months. The supervising allowance is 4s. a week, and an allowance of 3s. 6d. a day for subsistence is paid to the officer who is absent from his head-quarters. The religion of post office servants at Armagh or elsewhere is not a matter with which the Postmaster General is concerned, or which is allowed to enter into questions of promotion.

MR. JOHN CAMPBELL

Will the hon. Gentleman be good enough to answer the latter part of the question. How much has been expended in the way of special allowances?

MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAIN

There was a supervising allowance of 4s. a week, and a subsistence allowance of 3s. 6d. per day when the officer was away from headquarters.

MR. JOHN CAMPBELL

Has a single Roman Catholic ever been preferred?

MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAIN

The Postmaster General declines to inquire as to the religion of any member of the postal staff.