§ SIR G. KEKEWICH (Exeter)To ask the Postmaster-General whether Royal Engineers are employed at postal telegraph offices in Southampton, Bristol, Exeter, and Plymouth, receiving emoluments consisting partly of military pay and partly of wages from the Post Office; whether they are compelled to perform overtime and Sunday duty; whether the payment for these extra duties is based not on their total pay but on a scale only slightly above their Post Office wages; and whether this practice will be abandoned as soon as possible.
(Answered by Mr. Sydney Buxton.) The pay of the Royal Engineers employed at the post offices named consists partly of military pay and partly of wages 31 from the Post Office. When necessary, they are, like ordinary sorting clerks and telegraphists, liable to be called on to perform overtime and Sunday duty; and when this occurs their Post Office wages are increased in the usual manner. I have no power to increase their Army pay.