SIR WALTER FOSTER (Derbyshire, Ilkeston)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether the Postmaster General has had his attention drawn to 1334 the Report of the Association of British Postal Medical Officers on the prevalence of tubercle among postal employées, and to the summary of preventive measures drawn up; and whether the Postmaster General is prepared to adopt the measures therein set forth for the more effective prevention of tuberculosis among the staff of the Post Office.
§ MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAINThe Postmaster General received the report referred to in due course. Some of the preventive measures suggested in it were already in operation, and others that have been found practicable have been adopted. Statistics supplied by the Registrar-General show that the rate of mortality from phthisis and cognate diseases between the ages of 15 and 65 is much greater in the country at large than amongst the established employéesof the Post Office; and there is no reason to think that persons in the Post Office service are more subject to these diseases than others.