§ MR. CLAUDE HAYTo ask the Postmaster-General whether the scale of pay of the London officers of the circulation department for Sunday duty has been reduced since the Tweedmouth Commission, and that of the provincial staff 690 for the same purposes has been materially augmented.
(Answered by Lord Stanley.) Prior to the 1st April, 1897, Sunday duty in the provinces was paid for at a rate and a quarter, and in London at a double rate, but under the recommendations of the Tweedmouth Committee the payment was fixed at a rate and a half throughout the United Kingdom. Provision was, however, made for allowing all London officers who were in receipt of regular payment for Sunday duty prior to 1st April, 1897, to continue to receive the same payments as previously, i.e., at a double rate, calculated on their then rate of pay, on condition that they should receive no addition to that amount until, in consequence of the yearly increase in their salaries, payment at a rate and a half would yield a larger sum.