§ MR. SLOANI beg to ask the Postmaster-General if he can state under what circumstances the practice of allowing town postmen, in order of seniority, to select the district in which they will deliver has been discontinued at Belfast; whether he is aware that as a result of the revision recently sanctioned for Belfast, men who have been delivering in certain districts for many years have been removed to districts in other parts of the city; and, seeing that this will entail inconvenience to the public, to the postmen and their families, as it will be necessary for them to remove their homes to the new districts to which they have been transferred, whether he will state what steps he proposes to take.
§ THE POSTMASTER-GENERAL (Lord STANLEY,) Lancashire, WesthoughtonIt has been the practice at Belfast, when a postman's walk becomes vacant, to allot it to the senior applicant if be is suitable in all respects, and any applications from the postmen for the new duties created under the recent revision would be duly considered on their merits. Under that revision it was necessary to alter the delivery routes of sixty-four out of 170 postmen, but forty-three of these men finish their deliveries nearer their homes than previously. The public have benefited by the alterations, and the postmaster has received no complaints from any of the postmen of inconvenience such as that described by the hon. Member.