§ MR. TANKERVILLE CHAMBERLAYNE (Southampton)To ask the Postmaster-General if he will state in what year the necessary condition on which a telegraph office could be placed in Schedule A was altered from the total number of the established force to the aggregate amount of business done; and if he will state what is the aggregate amount of business required to be performed before a postal and telegraph office can be permitted to enter Group 2.
(Answered by Mr. Austen Chamberlain.) The hon. Member is under a misapprehension. The transfer of an office from Schedule B to Schedule A, has never at any time depended on the number of the established force, but on the number of letters or telegrams dealt with. The present method of calculation takes into account not only the number of letters and telegrams, but all the other branches of business transacted. It could not, I fear, be properly explained in answer to a Question in this House.