§ 42. Mr. GOULDINGasked the Postmaster-General whether it is the practice of the Post Office to pay the employer's contribution under the National Insurance Act where the employé is engaged for twenty-one hours a week, and to decline to do so where the employment is reduced to fourteen hours a week, although in both cases the Post Office is the first employer in the week; and, if so, will he say why the practice in the Post Office differs from that in the case of private employers?
§ The POSTMASTER-GENERAL (Mr. Hobhouse)Under the National Insurance Acts the Insurance Commissioners have power to issue a special Order excluding from insurance persons engaged in employment of any class which is ordinarily adopted as subsidiary employment only, and not as the principal means of livelihood. They have issued such an Order in the case of persons employed for not more than eighteen hours weekly on the collection and delivery of 2093 letters under allowance or on the conveyance of Post Office mails to and from stations or piers. Special Orders relating to part-time employments have been issued by the Insurance Commissioners as regards many classes of subsidiary employment under private employers.