§ MR. CLAUDE HAYTo ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether the number of appointments above £160 in the Central Telegraph Office bears the same relation to the number of appointments below that salary, as during the years when the circular was issued promising a prospect of £190; and whether he will give the number of staff above £160, and the number below £160, for each of the twenty years, 1882 to 1902, inclusive.
(Answered by Mr. Austen Chamberlain.) The hon. Member was informed on the 2nd of June † of the present proportion of appointments above £160 per annum to those below £160 as compared with the proportion existing in 1892—or shortly after the time when the Circular referred to was discontinued. The corresponding figures for the year 1882 are one appointment above £160 to 5.3 appointments below. But the Postmaster General thinks that no useful purpose would be served by ascertaining the relative numbers during each of the last twenty years. The preparation of such a Return would entail considerable labour upon his officers at a time when there is exceptional pressure of business.