§ SIR G. KEKEWICH (Exeter)To ask the Postmaster-General if he will state the number of officers of the postal" telegraph service who were scheduled under The Superannuation (Post Office and War Office) Act, 1876, and are still in the service; and whether he has come to a decision as to whether he will give effect to the clause of the Act providing for compulsory retirement at sixty years of age.
(Answered by Mr. Sydney Buxton.) The labour which would be involved in obtaining the information asked for 59 in the first portion of the hon. Member's inquiry would be very great, and would be out of all proportion to any useful purpose it would serve; I regret that in the circumstances I do not feel justified in sanctioning it. As I explained on Friday last, in reply to the hon. Member for South-West Manchester, all pensionable officers, of whatever grade, whose conduct, capacity, or efficiency falls below a fair standard, are called upon to retire at sixty years of age; but Retirement at sixty is not enforced in the case of officers whose conduct is good and who are certified by their superior officers to be thoroughly efficient.