§ MR. KENDAL O'BRIEN (Tipperary, Mid.)To ask the Postmaster-General whether he is aware that adult night messengers in Scotland are only paid in some instances 1s. when kept on duty on public holidays; will he issue instructions that at the ensuing King's birthday, and succeeding holidays, these adult messengers shall be paid a full day's wages at the rate at present paid for Bank Holidays in England and Ireland, namely, time and a half.
§ MR. KENDAL O'BRIENTo ask the Postmaster-General if he will state the scale of pay received by established adult night messengers at Sheffield and Hull; and will he consider the advisability of placing on the establishment the adult night messengers in Scotland who have five years of approved service, 218 as the duties performed by the unestablished night messengers in the Scottish offices are quite as arduous as at the Yorkshire offices named, where the adult night messengers enjoy all the advantages of an established appointment.
(Answered by Mr. Sydney Buxton.) I will answer the hon. Member's Questions together. A few of the adult night messengers at Sheffield and Hull are on the scale 18s., 1s., 21s. a week. The arrangement is, however, exceptional and, as vacancies occur, unestablished messengers at fixed wages will be employed as at all other offices. Full duty messengers are, in common with other full duty officers, entitled to extra payment at a single rate for duty performed on Bank Holidays or on those holidays in Scotland which correspond to the four Bank Holidays in England and Wales. The King's birthday is not kept as a public holiday at provincial post offices.