§ Mr. MONDasked the Postmaster-General whether he could arrange that all future postmastership appointments in Welsh-speaking areas should be offered in the first instance to eligible Welsh-speaking officials; and whether or not 341 there was a sufficient number of Welsh-speaking officials from which, in the interests of the service and the community, one could have been chosen to fulfil the duties of postmaster at Swansea?
§ Mr. HERBERT SAMUELIn answer to the first part of the question I would refer my hon. Friend to my reply to a question on the same subject by the hon. Member for the Carmarthen Boroughs on Monday last. The requirements of the service do not demand a knowledge of Welsh on the part of the postmaster at Swansea, and had such a qualification been nevertheless regarded as indispensable the appointment which would have been made could not have been as satisfactory as the present one.
§ Mr. EYRES-MONSELLMay I inquire whether it is not of equal importance that the Member for Swansea should be able to speak Welsh?