§ MR. J. DEVLIN (Belfast, W.)To ask the Postmaster-General whether he will state the number of ex-Army and ex-Navy men at present engaged as postmen at the Belfast post office; whether some time ago an arrangement was made that assistant postmen who had risen from the rank of telegraph messengers should 132 receive appointments in equal ratio to-these ex-Army and ex-Navy men; whether the proportion of the latter is now considerably in excess of the former, and whether he will take steps to secure that the original arrangement is adhered to, and that both classes should be equally represented in the Belfast postal service.
(Answered by Mr. Sydney Billion.) At present fifty-one ex-Army and ex-Navy men are employed as established postmen at Belfast. The arrangement, one of many years standing, under which vacancies for postmen fall alternately to ex-telegraph messengers and to ex-soldiers or ex-sailors, has been and is being adhered to; and half the vacancies at Belfast have been assigned to ex-telegraph messengers.