§ MR. MEAGHER (Kilkenny, N.)I beg to ask the Postmaster General, can he say why it has been decided that the Irish stores clerks who may receive appointments in the new stores depot at Dublin will be placed at the foot of the third class, which will have the effect, in view of their age and service, of practically debarring them from all hopes of further promotion, seeing that, when the postal stores and telegraph stores branches were amalgamated, the officers in both branches were placed on the class according to their relative salary and length of service; and will he say why the scale of salary for Dublin is to be £65 to £185, while the London scale is 317 £ 80 to £200, seeing that the cost of living in Dublin is admittedly as high as in London.
§ MR. SYDNEY BUXTONIn the case of the amalgamation of the Postal Stores Department and the Telegraph Stores Department the two separate Departments thereon ceased to exist and the staff of each had necessarily to be placed together in the new Department according to their previous standing. In the present instance the class of junior clerks in the Engineering Department, by whom amongst other duties stores work has hitherto been performed, will continue precisely as before, and the clerks can remain on their present duties (excepting only the stores work) with their present scale and prospects. I think, therefore, that the case is fairly met by my offer to receive applications for transfer on the usual condition of entry at the foot of the class, and I may say I have recived a number of applications for transfer on that condition. As regards the scale of pay the usual practice in all Post Office classes is followed.