§ MR. CLAUDE HAY () Shoreditch, HoxtonTo ask the Postmaster General, in view of the fact that members of the Post Office who volunteered for South Africa were told that they would receive the difference between their salaries and the cost of substitution, and that no mention was made that the Military pay would be taken into consideration, whether he is aware that a telegraphist named Priest, of the Central Office, London, has been informed that as he received the pay of a Yeoman the question of his Post Office arrears of salary cannot be taken into account; and whether he will state why Priest has been treated differently to other postal officials who served with the Yeomanry by having his Army pay taken into consideration.
(Answered by Mr. Austen Chamberlain.)
The hon. Member is under a misapprehension. It is not the fact that, when unmarried Post Office servants joining the Colours for service in South Africa were told that they would receive the difference between their salaries and the cost of substitution, no mention was made that the Military pay would be taken into consideration. On the contrary, they were informed that payment of such difference was subject to the condition that the amount of the difference, together with their Military emoluments, should not exceed the amount of the civil pay. In Priest's case this condition was not fulfilled.