§ MR. JAMES O'CONNORI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, if he will explain why sub-office rural postmen, who are not allowed free medical attendance, are compelled to furnish the Department with a weekly medical certificate when they are on the sick list at their own cost; and whether the Department will dispense with weekly certificates in cases where the men's illness is known to be of several weeks duration; also whether the Department can see its way to refund to the men the cost of these certificates.
§ MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAINAll servants of the Department are required to furnish weekly certificates when absent through illness, and at places where there is no medical officer attached to the Post Office the certificates must be obtained from the patient's own medical adviser. The Postmaster General is not prepared to alter the rule which requires medical certificates to be furnished, nor can he undertake to refund the cost of them to those officers who are obliged to obtain them at their own expense.