§ MR. CLAUDE HAY (Shoreditch, Hoxton)To ask the Postmaster-General whether he is aware that a number of established officers of the General Post Office, London, appointed to continuous Sunday duty, have had their attendance on that day reduced to each alternate Sunday; that these men had been doing continuous Sunday duty for an average of twenty-six years; and that all the men, up to the date of the order, had been pensioned on the basis of their Sunday duty being reckoned for pension; and, if so, will he explain why those who have been pensioned since the date of the order have not received consideration for continuous Sunday duty, seeing I that the Tweedmouth Commission Report, adopted by the Treasury, lays down "that the rights of the existing holders should in all cases, be maintained."
(Answered by Lord Stanley.) I am aware of the circumstances to which the hon. Member refers, and I fully explained them in a letter I sent to him on the 19th March last. The Report of the Tweedmouth Committee did not deal with the frequency of Sunday attendance, and their recommendation as to reserving the rights of existing holders cannot, therefore, be held to apply to the case of these officers.