§ MR. NANNETTITo ask the Postmaster-General is he aware that at the present time in the Dublin Post Office the sorting department is lending men to the telegraph department to meet pressure of work in the instrument room, and at the same time the telegraph authorities are lending officers to the circulation department because the work in the telegraph branch has decreased; and whether, in view of the complaints that have recently been made, he will see that this practice is discontinued.
(Answered by Lord Stanley.) As I informed the hon. Member in my letter of the 18th March last, the officers to whom he refers were appointed under the condition that they must perform either postal or telegraph work as required. They are not attached specifically to either banch, and I am quite satisfied with the dispositions which have been made to deal with the work.
§ MR. NANNETTITo ask the Postmaster-General if he is aware that officers who have been solely employed in the Dublin sorting office for a period in some cases for upwards of two years, have been recently sent to the telegraph branch where, notwithstanding their want of practice, they are expected to deal efficiently with messages sent at a high rate of speed; and whether, seeing that such an arrangement is unnecessary, inasmuch as there are ex-dual men solely appointed to the telegraph side at present doing duty in the sorting office, he will take steps to discontinue this practice.
(Answered by Lord Stanley.) The officers in question have been trained at a 788 considerable expense in dual duties, and are liable, by the terms of their employment, to be called upon to perform either postal or telegraph duties as the exigencies of the service may require. Their employment on telegraph duties on the occasion in question was necessary and justifiable.