§ Mr. JOHN ROBERTSONasked the Postmaster-General whether women telegraph supervisors in the largest provincial Offices have to perform a duty of eight hours per day; whether second class male superintendents, whose work is analogous, perform only seven hours per day with a salary nearly double that of the women supervisors; and whether, seeing that the increase in the hours of duty of the provincial women supervisors was not a direct recommendation of the Hobhouse Committee, he will consider the question of reducing their hours to those of the male-superintendents?
§ The POSTMASTER-GENERAL (Mr. Herbert Samuel)The present scales of pay of the junior women supervising officers in the largest provincial offices were granted on the basis of a 48-hour week, on the analogy of the recommendation of the Hobhouse Committee in the case of the female overseers (now assistant supervisors) in the Central Telegraph Office. The question of the hours of duty of the officers in question has been under my consideration for some considerable time, but I am unable yet to announce a decision.