§ MR. HAY (Shoreditch, Hoxton)To ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, if he is aware that the extra duty performed between 8 p.m. and midnight in the East Central Section, General Post Office, amounting to 6,384 hours from 15th January to 15th April last, devolved almost entirely upon the sixty-one sorters attached to the 11.45 a.m. to 8 p.m. attendance, few other officers being available; and whether he will recommend an increase of twenty officers to the established staff of the section for the purpose of decreasing the amount of extra duty, and, in accordance with the recommendation of the Tweedmouth Committee, reducing the number of auxiliary sorters, eighty of whom are employed on half-time, from 5 to 9 p.m. in this section.
(Answer.) The Postmaster General is aware of the circumstances mentioned by the hon. Member. During the period referred to the extra duty averaged eight hours a week for each man. It is not of such a nature as to justify provision being made for it by an addition to the permanent staff, and the arrangement suggested would entail a serious waste of force.—(Post Office.)