§ MR. CROOKS (Woolwich)To ask the Postmaster-General whether, in view of the rule of the postal service that officers transferred from one office to another do not carry their seniority with them, but are placed at the foot of their class, he will explain why a sorting clerk and telegraphist, having been removed from the Croydon office seven years ago at his own request, has been allowed to return and take his place above a number of his colleagues; whether he will state what steps he proposes to take to recompense the men for their loss of prospects; and whether it is intended that this action will form a precedent.
(Answered by Lord Stanley.) The officer to whom the hon. Member's Question is understood to refer had been promoted to another office from the class of sorting clerks and telegraphists at Croydon, and has recently been removed back to his former position by any direction. The case was dealt with on its merits, and I do not consider that the other members of the class have any good ground for complaint.