MR. PATRICK O'BRIENTo ask the Postmaster-General whether the members of the postal telegraph service are permitted to approach Members of Parliament with reference to matters affecting their conditions of service; whether the men or their representatives have the right to place copies of the correspondence between the aggrieved persons and their official heads in the hands of Members of Parliament.
(Answered by Mr. Austen Chamberlain.) The rule applicable to this matter is as follows:—" A postmaster is to address to his surveyor, and a subordinate officer is to address to the postmaster (who will forward it to his surveyor), any application from himself having reference to his duties or pay, or any communication he may desire to make relating to official matters; and if the applicant is dissatisfied
† See (4) Debates, exv.,839.565 with the result he may appeal direct to the Post master-General. But it is strictly forbidden to make any such application or other communication through the public, or to procure one to be made by Members of Parliament or others; and, should an irregular application he received, the officer on whose behalf it is made will be subject to censure or punishment proportionate to the extent of his participation in the violation of the rule "But it has been my practice to treat the rule as applying only to applications so made in the first instance, and I have raised no objection to an officer who had appealed to me, and was dissatisfied with my decision, applying subsequently to a Member of Parliament. But official correspondence between officers of the Department must not be made public without the Post master-General's assent being first asked and obtained.