§ Sir THOMAS ESMONDE (Wexford, N.)To ask the Postmaster-General if his attention has been called to the appointment of a town postman at Liverpool to the Postmastership at Ferns, county Wexford, Ireland; and, if so, will he state was this vacancy announced in the usual way in the Post Office Circular; if not, what was the reason for withholding the announcement; how many applications for this position were received from members of the Irish postal service, and what was the length of service of each applicant; what is the length of service of the man appointed to the position; and what are his qualifications for the same.
(Answered by Lord Stanley.) The vacancy was advertised in the usual way in the Post Office Circular. There were seventy-three 1154 candidates, of whom twenty-five were in the Irish postal service. The officer whom I appointed was the senior of the recommended candidates, and I selected him as the most suitable. His service dates from July 1886. I may perhaps add that a sorting clerk and telegraphist from Ireland was quite recently appointed to a postmastership in England.