§ MR. JAMES O'CONNOR (Wicklow, W.)To ask the Postmaster General 1110 whether he is aware that at times in the Central Office, London, and in other places, male clerks senior in age and receiving higher pay than the women supervisors are placed under their control; and whether steps will be taken to abolish the practice in accordance with the desire of the Tweedmouth Commission.
(Answered by Mr. Austen Chamberlain.) Such an arrangement occasionally obtains, especially at times when male telegraphists are voluntarily performing extra duty on sections of circuits which are under the immediate supervision of women; but I am assured that the expressed desire of the Tweedmouth Committee on this subject is duly observed, and that men are placed under the supervision of women as rarely as possible. I may add, as regards the Central Telegraph Office, that female supervisors are themselves under the control of male superintendents and assistant controllers.