§ MR. STEADMAN (Finsbury, Central)To ask the Postmaster-General if men in Mount Pleasant Factory with from three and a half to eight and a half years service are now being discharged and men with less service retained; and would he be prepared to transfer these men to some other Department, so that their service may not be broken.
(Answered by Mr. Sydney Buxton.) The men to whom the hon. Member refers were employed in the battery shop and have, I regret to say, had to be discharged because, owing to the extended use of secondary batteries, the work in the battery shop has fallen off largely. As far as possible the men with least service have been discharged. I much 1006 regret that, though every endeavour was made, no other work could be found for them. The number so discharged is four.