§ MR. JAMES O'CONNORTo ask the Postmaster-General whether he is aware that in calculating the unestablished service of assistant postmen for special increments due to them under the memorandum of 1st April, 1905, two-thirds of the time is deducted in those offices where the minimum has been raised, although the memorandum states that such service shall count under the same conditions as it does for stripes, and expressly provides that the pay shall not be carried more than two increments beyond the new scale.
§ (Answered by Mr. Sydney Buxton.) As the minimum was raised by 1s. (which is the equivalent of eight months at Is. 6d. a year) on 1st April, 1905, it was decided, under the Stanley revision, to deduct eight months from the unestablished service rendered before 1st April, 1905, in the case of officers appointed on the new scale. If this had not been done, a postman appointed on the 31st March 1905, would have been in receipt of less wages than a postman with similar unestablished service appointed on the 1st April, 1905.