§ MR. SLOAN (Belfast, S.)I beg to ask the Postmaster General whether he will state why the maximum wage of Belfast postmen only rises to 28s. per week, whereas the postmen of Dublin rise to 30s.; and will he state under what class the Belfast Post Office would require to come to receive the same consideration.
§ MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAINThe rate of wages in force far postmen at Dublin is confined to a few of the largest and most important postal centres in the United Kingdom, namely, Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester in England, Edinburgh and Glasgow in Scotland, and Dublin in Ireland. The circumstances of Belfast do not bring it within this very limited category, and it is accordingly included in the class of towns at which the next scale is paid, comprising places such as Bristol, Leeds, Newcastle-on-Tyne, etc.