§ MR. A. ALLEN (Christchurch)To ask the Postmaster-General whether the Bournemouth office has been raised by his recent classification to be a Class 2 office; whether, in view of the recommendation of the Hobhouse Committee that in such offices a division of the postal and telegraph staffs should take place, it is the intention of the Department to carry out such reorganisation; and whether his attention has been called to the fact that, in consequence of dual qualifications being insisted on at Bournemouth, men fully qualified in postal duties have had their increments arrested for inefficiency as telegraphists.
(Answered by Mr. Sydney Buxton.) The Bournemouth office under the new 502 classification is in Class 2, and the question whether the staff should be divided or not is at present under consideration. The new classification is determined partly by the amount of work and partly by the cost of living; and the staff at offices placed in Class 2 on the latter grounds will not be divided unless the nature of the work renders division necessary. So long as the staff at Bournemouth remains amalgamated dual qualification is required, but if the staff is divided I will consider specially the case of any officer whose increment has been arrested because he is not dually qualified.