§ MR. FREEMAN-THOMASTo ask the postmaster General whether the Tweedmouth Committee decided that the rule re special leave, existing at the time they made their Report, viz., March, 1897, were, in their opinion, sufficient; and if he is aware that at that date, and until quite recently, the staff at Hastings and St. Leonards could obtain leave for a few hours upon applying to their respective supervisors, providing a proper substitute was provided; is he aware that this has recently been altered, and the staff now have to make a written application to the postmaster, thereby causing them great inconvenience, and, in some cases where the leave is required unexpectedly at a few hours notice, it is impossible for a written application to reach the postmaster and to be returned in time; and will he give instruction for casual 8 leave books, as at present in use in London and many provincial offices, to be issued at Hastings and St. Leonards.
(Answered by Mr. Austen Chamberlain.) The Tweedmouth Committee stated in their Report that claims had been made by many classes for more frequent relief on Saturday afternoons, and that, while acknowledging the desirability of such facilities being given where the exigences of the services permit, they considered that the granting of them must be a matter of Departmental arrangement. They also stated that it was urged that special leave should always be granted to a postman when able to provide a substitute. They feared that the concession of this claim would not conduce to the good discipline of the service. The Amount of special leave to be granted to any officer must be left to the discretion of his superior, and the regulations laid down by the Department appeared to them sufficiently liberal. The postmaster of Hastings considered it desirable that no special leave should be granted without his sanction, and he does not appear to have received any official complaint on the subject. There may be, of course, cases of great urgency, when the superior officer on duty must act on his own responsibility, but apart from this the postmaster's action seems right.