§ MR. NANNETTII beg to ask the Postmaster-General whether the Southern Irish District is to be made the telegraphic training ground for Royal Engineers in place of the Southern District of England; if so, whether this would involve any, and, if so, what, changes in the personnel of the clerical staff of the Superintending Engineer's Office at Dublin; whether the cost of the change can be stated, and what the cost was of the transfers of the staffs from Cork and Belfast to Dublin in March, 1907; and is he aware that the opinion of the business community in Ireland is strongly antagonistic to the further additions to the military garrisons in that country to the displacement of its civil population.
§ MR. SYDNEY BUXTONIn the present altered conditions of telegraph and telephone work the Southern District of England is not the most suitable training ground for the Royal Engineers and the question of assigning to them a more suitable district, possibly the Southern District of Ireland, is under consideration. If the change is carried out, the present civilian clerical staff (numbering 19 in the Southern District of Ireland) will be replaced by Military Clerks, but of course the civilian clerks will be found employment in other districts. I have no estimate of the probable cost of the change, but it cannot amount to much. The cost of the removal of staff and goods in 1907 from Belfast and Cork amounted to about £600, but there will be considerable saving in the result.
§ MR. NANNETTIWill the superseded clerks be found employment in Ireland, or will they be transferred to England? Is it the policy of the Department to let military men take the places of Civil servants in Ireland?
§ MR. SYDNEY BUXTONTo the last Question I can give an emphatic negative. Efforts will certainly be made to find employment for the clerks in Ireland.