§ MR. JAMES O'CONNORI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether, in view of recent decisions withholding the grant of compassionate gratuities to unestablished postmen on retirement from the service, he will lay upon the Table of the House a Copy of the Minute, No. 12, 262/01, embodying the results of an inquiry as to the retention in the employment of the department of unestablished officers over 60 years of age.
§ MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAINThe Postmaster General cannot undertake to lay on the Table a copy of the Minute referred to, which is a confidential document, and related to many persons other than unestablished postmen; but the unestablished and auxiliary postmen who were retired were all considered to have reached an age when their retention was no longer desirable in the interests of the service. Their ages varied from 66 to 84. Gratuities were granted to all those who were qualified to receive them.