§ CLAUDE HAY (Shoreditch, Hoxton)To ask the Postmaster General whether, seeing that he has declared that the Post Office should endeavour to keep pace with the increase of wages granted by other employers of labour, that in 1881 a scale of pay was in existence giving £190 per annum to operating telegraphists in London, which scale of pay the Civil Service Commissioners advertised on the papers handed to candidates for employment as telegraphists, and that the maximum salary of an operating telegraphist is now £160 per annum in London, he will state what steps have been taken to assimilate the wages of employees in the Postal Departments to that of other employers.
9 (Answered by Mr. Austen Chamberlain.) The Tweedmouth Committee were of opinion that a maximum of £160 a year was adequate pay for the general body of telegraphists, and I see no reason for granting a higher scale. I am not aware that the remuneration of employees of the Post Office compares unfavourably with that given by other employers.