§ MR SLOANTo ask the Postmaster-General of how many members does the outdoor staff of the surveyors' department in Ireland generally consist, and their designation; what is the amount of the per diem allowance granted to each officer, as also to the surveyor in respect of subsistence allowance; are they entitled to free locomotion; if so, what is the grade of the respective classes they are entitled to travel; what is the basis upon which these allowances were fixed, and when did a revision of them last take place; whether there is any restraint, and by whom exercised, in respect of the unnecessary incurring of such expenses as are now allowed on the part of the officers referred to.
(Answered by Mr. Sydney Buxton.) The outdoor staff of the surveyors' department in Ireland consists of three surveyors, three assistant surveyors of the first class, and nine of the second class, with three inspecting telegraphists. The subsistence allowance granted to the surveyors is at the rate of 20s. a day, to the assistant surveyors at the rate of 15s. a day, and to the inspecting telegraphists at the rate of 10s. a day, in addition to the cost of locomotion. First-class fare is allowed to surveyors and assistant surveyors, and second-class fare (or third on railways which provide no second class) to inspecting telegraphists. 1822 The allowances of surveyors and assistant surveyors were fixed in the year I854, and those of inspecting telegraphists in the year 1893. The travelling accounts of all offices in the Post Office are checked and scrutinised in detail before payment is made, and any unnecessary claims are disallowed.