§ MR. WARDLEI beg to ask the Postmaster-General if his Department encourage the telegraph messenger boys to attend evening schools at the expense of their parents; and whether he will consider the advisability of the Department contributing a portion or the whole of the fees, as is sometimes done in the police force.
§ THE POSTMASTER-GENERAL (Mr. SYDNEY BUXTON, Tower Hamlets, Poplar)Telegraph messengers are encouraged to obtain such educational knowledge as may qualify them for superior appointments. As far as possible this knowledge is imparted at Post Office institutes, which are main- 1018 tained for the sole benefit, of the boys, and which provide for their intelligent amusement, as well as for their instruction, the expenses being defrayed partly by a Treasury grant, and partly by small subscriptions from the boys, while much voluntary service is given by members of the staff. The work of these institutes is highly beneficial to the messengers, and the possibility of extending their number is steadily kept In view. At present they exist at about thirty provincial towns, as well as in London.