27. Mr. POINTERasked the Post master-General with regard to the punching test imposed on the telegraph staff at Sheffield in order to qualify for the increased pay recommended by the Holt Committee, whether he will state the reason for this further test in the case of men in receipt of the maximum pay who passed the usual efficiency test early in the present year; and whether he will state the standard required at these two tests and the reason for increasing the standard of the second test?
§ The POSTMASTER-GENERAL (Mr. Hobhouse)It is the practice to impose a test in Wheatstone punching before granting any increment above the Efficiency Barrier point of the scale, even if an officer has passed the test earlier in the same year. The standard required for the manipulative test in punching is 200 words in ten minutes. The duration of the test applied early in the present year at Sheffield was limited to five minutes, but the recent test was for the full period of ten minutes required by the regulations.