§ MR. MORTON (Sutherland)To ask the Postmater-General if his attention has been called to the fact that the postmastership of Dalkeith, the postmistress-ship of South Queensferry, and the postmistress-ship of Bridge of Allan, have been filled without advertisement in the Post Office circular; whether departmental witnesses before the Select Committee of this House on Post Office Wages, have assured Members that vacancies were advertised, to give all grades a chance of making application; and, if so, whether the Postmaster-General can state the reason for the abandonment of this policy.
(Answered by Mr. Sydney Buxton.) The postmasters and mistresses of the offices referred to were interchanged for disciplinary reasons, and there was no question of filling vacancies in the ordinary sense. As explained to the Select Committee, it is necessary on certain rare occasions to depart from the ordinary practice of advertising vacant post-masterships.