§ MR. CLAUDE HAY (Shoreditch, Hoxton)To ask the Postmaster-General whether, seeing that the Engineering Branch of the Telegraph Department Central Telegraphs was given a holiday for the King's birthday celebration, while the staff in the instrument rooms were compelled to work on this day, in order to secure uniformity of treatment, a compensatory day will be granted to the latter section of telegraph employees.
(Answered by Mr. Austen Chamberlain.) My hon. friend's Question is based on a misapprehension. It has never been 917 the practice to grant a holiday in the Central Telegraph Office on the occasion in question, and no general holiday was given to the engineers working in that office on Friday last.