§ MR. CLAUDE HAY (Shoreditch, Hoxton)To ask the Postmaster-General whether the wording of the form of certificate which has to be given by a superior officer in the Post Office service in reporting on a subordinate has been altered more than once during the past ton years; what was the nature and what was the object of the successive alterations, if any, and. were such alterations, if any, the same as those made by other Government departments, or were they, so far as he is aware, made only in respect of the Postal Office staff; and, if they were made only in the Post Office, is there any authority for treating Post 216 Office servants in respect of increments differently from other Civil servants.
(Answered by Mr. Sydney Buxton.) The only alteration which has been made in the form of certificate prescribed by Clause 20 of the Order in Council of the 29th November, 1898, consists in the addition of words introduced to guard against the supposition that approved conduct might exist apart from efficient work. I cannot state what steps other Departments have taken to secure that approved conduct is understood to comprise efficiency.