§ MR. MACVEAGH (Down, S.)To ask the Postmaster-General if it is necesssary that a certain number of established postmen must be employed at an office before the auxiliary or assistant postmen employed thereat, and doing duties of less than seven hours daily, are eligible to claim a certificate of qualification from the Civil Service Commissioners.
(Answered by Lord Stanley.) There is no fixed proportion between the number of established postmen at an office and the number of assistant postmen or auxiliaries. In arranging the establishment of an office, however, an effort is made to secure that the numbers shall be such as to admit of the appointment of the assistant postmen to the establishment within a reasonable time. Civil Service certificates are obtained for assistant postmen but not for auxiliaries.