§ SIR FRANCIS CHANNINGI beg to ask the Postmaster-General whether he is aware that the maximum of postmen's wages has been reduced at Rushden, Northants, by Is. a week, while in the adjoining town of Wellingborough the maximum of postmen's wages has been raised by 1s.; whether he is aware that the cost of living and the character of the work in both towns are approximately the same, Rushden having just over 15,000 inhabitants, and Wellingborough just over 20,000; whether this inequality of the maximum of wages is due to the somewhat out-of-date arrangement by which so large a town as Rushden is still classed as a rural sorting office; and whether he will make local inquiry into the circumstances, and consider whether the maximum at Rushden can be raised to the level of Wellingborough.
§ MR. SYDNEY BUXTONThe volume of work at Wellingborough is represented 1495 by 134 units. It therefore falls into Class III. for outdoor force, on the system of classification recommended by the Committee, and modified by me for the benefit of the outdoor force. The lower limit for that class is approximately 100 units of work, as stated in the Parliamentary Paper (Post Office: Changes in Wages, etc.) issued on the 11th instant. The cost of living is represented by the index number 96, and is therefore slightly below the average. Rushden sub-office, where the volume of work is considerably below 100, being only 32 units, goes naturally on the same system into Class IV. The cost of living is probably about the same at Welling-borough.