§ MR. NANNETTI (Dublin, College Green)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether he is aware that in nearly every case when an officer was called upon to perform extra duty in the Dublin Sorting Office, three attendances had to be given, which commenced at 5 a.m. and ended at 8 p.m.; and that recently certain officers giving such attendances were paid at the rate of extra duty for an hour or an hour and a half; and, seeing that instructions have been issued to clerks supervising sections to compel men on extra duty to sign off early on the morning attendance, whether the Postmaster General will undertake that an arrangement be made by which officers compelled to perform extra duty under such conditions be allowed an opportunity of making at least three or four hours extra by way of recompensing them for the strain entailed by such duties.
§ MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAINIt has been necessary to require a third attendance from sorting officers in the Dublin Post Office, on a good many occasions recently, owing to pressure of work and to the staff being somewhat under-manned. Whenever the total duty in each case, including such attendance, exceeds the regular limit, overtime payment is, of course, allowed for the excess; but the Postmaster General could not sanction payment for any extra duty beyond the amount actually required to 161 be performed in each ease. He hopes, however, that under the scheme which is about to be brought forward for increasing the staff the necessity for a third attendance will be rendered much less frequent than has hitherto been the case.