§ MR. GILL (Bolton)To ask the Postmaster-General whether his attention has been called to the fact that the maximum pay of telegraphists at Bolton previous to 1905 was 50s. per week, that since that period the maximum of the scale has been fixed at 48s., and the Hobhouse scheme keeps the wages at that sum, and that at Manchester and Liverpool the maximum is 56s. per week; and whether, seeing that the Board of Trade Returns published recently show that while the cost of living in Manchester and Liverpool is 86 as compared with London at 100, that of Bolton is 82, and that there is a difference of 4 per cent. on the cost of living, he proposes to take any steps to deal with the difference of maxima of 48s. and 56s. per week.
(Answered by Mr. Sydney Buxton.) My attention has been called to the facts mentioned. The classification of Bolton under the revision recommended by the Parliamentary Committee is at present in suspense. The final position of Bolton in the new classification will, as recommended by the Committee, depend not only upon the cost of living at that town, as ascertained by the Board of Trade, but also on the volume of work performed there.