§ MR. SEDDON (Lancashire, Newton)To ask the Postmaster-General whether he will consider the question of recruiting the telephone staffs by open competition, in the same manner as the telegraph department.
(Answered by Mr. Sydney Burton.) The question of recruiting telephonists by means of open competitions has been fully considered. Candidates for such employment, besides having the prescribed educational knowledge, must possess certain qualifications, such as pitch of voice and clearness of enunciation, which cannot be tested except by personal examination; and the substitution of open competition for the present method of appointment by selection and nomination would not appear to be satisfactory.