§ MR. BAYLEY (Derbyshire, Chesterfield)To ask the Postmaster-General whether he will state the number of telegraphists who have resigned the Telegraph Department since 1897 for service elsewhere, and the number of telegraphists since that date who have been transferred to higher branches of the Postal Telegraph Department.
(Answered, by Mr. Austen Chamberlain.) The causes of resignation are not always stated, but, so far as can be ascertained, about 100 telegraphists in the Central Telegraph Office have resigned since 1897 for service elsewhere, of whom twenty-six took up duty as telegraphists under the South African Administrations. The number of telegraphists who have been transferred to higher branches of the Postal Telegraph Service is 142.