§ Mr. WILESasked the Postmaster-General whether he is now in a position to state that all owners of blocks of offices, flats, and other high buildings 1924 fitted with lifts have given permission for such lifts to be used by postmen in the discharge of their duties?
§ Mr. HERBERT SAMUELThe question of the use of lifts by postmen in blocks of offices, flats, and other high buildings has received constant attention in the Post Office for some years past. Permission is asked for the use of the lift to convey the postman to the highest point at which he has to deliver. He commences his duty there and subsequently walks down, delivering at the various flats or offices as he passes by. Such permission has, I am glad to say, invariably been given in the provinces, and has been conceded throughout London in all but a few instances. I am advised that the legal obligations of the Postmaster-General would be fulfilled if letters for persons residing in such buildings were tendered to the hall porter; and I now propose, in the case of the few buildings whose owners, after repeated requests, still withhold the desired facilities which are readily granted by the great majority of owners, and which are of much value to the postmen, to issue instructions that letters for the tenants need no longer be delivered from flat to flat, but should be tendered to the hall porter for distribution.
§ Lord BALCARRESMay not that inflict a great hardship on the tenants who live in those flats? The tenants themselves have no control whatever over the management of the lifts.
§ Mr. GIBSON BOWLESHow will that act in the case where there is no hall porter?
§ Mr. HERBERT SAMUELI doubt whether there is any such case. Where there is a lift there is generally a person to work the lift. If there is not, then special arrangements will have to be made, and the landlord must make a distribution for his tenants.