§ MR. JAMES O'CONNOR (Wicklow, W)To ask the Postmaster-General 292 whether he will state the grounds on which Mr. W. S. Robertson, of Stirling, has been refused a position of assistant postman, bearing in mind the facts that he is an ex-telegraph messenger and has been employed as an auxiliary postman since 1903, and that the course of appointment to an established position of postman at Stirling is telegraph messenger, auxiliary, assistant, and then full time established postman.
(Answered by Mr. Sydney Buxton.) Auxiliary postmen (as is clearly stated in the conditions of engagement) have no title to succeed to the position of assistant postman, though in particular cases they may have been permitted to do so. Under the arrangement which has been in force for a number of years, the present vacancy is due to an ex-soldier candidate.