§ MR. REES (Montgomery Boroughs)To ask the Postmaster-General why Oswestry with units of work and cost of living 120 and ninety-six, respectively, is given a 44s. scale of pay for clerks while Newtown, with corresponding figures of 120 and ninety-three, is only given 40s.
(Answered by Mr. Sydney Buxton.) The volume of work at Oswestry and at Newtown is the minimum for offices in Class IV. Oswestry, where the cost of living index number is ninety-six compared with a normal 100. falls naturally into Class IV.; but the index number of the cost of living at Newtown, which is only ninety-three, is not sufficiently high to remove it from Class V.