§ 1. Lieut.-Colonel FREMANTLEasked the Secretary of State for India the conditions on which the Persian Gulf section of the Indo-European Telegraph Department of the India Office is being transferred to a commercial company?
§ The SECRETARY of STATE for INDIA (Mr. Wedgwood Benn)The operations of the Indo-European Telegraph Department in Persia and the Persian Gulf are being terminated on the 1st March next. The question of the arrangements for the working of the cable system in the Persian Gulf after that date is bound up with negotiations which are still proceeding with the Persian Government. Pending the conclusion of these negotiations I am not in a position to make any further statement.
§ Lieut.-Colonel FREMANTLECan the right hon. Gentleman say when he is likely to be in a position to make some statement about the terms?
§ 2. Lieut.-Colonel FREMANTLEasked the Secretary of State for India whether leave, already earned and due, on pay, will be ensured to every member of the staff of the Indo-European Telegraph Department of the India Office now serving in the Persian Gulf section; and whether the scale of pension and gratuity to be fixed will take into account the severe climatic conditions in the Persian Gulf and the virtual impossibility for such members of obtaining any employ- 1726 ment elsewhere for the rest of their lives, having regard to the fact that telegraphy is virtually a Government monopoly both in India and the United Kingdom?
§ Mr. BENNI am sending the hon. and gallant Member a copy of the scheme of compensation for officers of the Indo-European Telegraph Department whose services are being dispensed with, including the terms under which leave may be granted; all relevant considerations have been taken into account in fixing the scale of gratuities and pensions granted under this scheme. The restriction of the grant of leave to a maximum of four months on average pay, if earned, provided in the scheme, is one of the factors which have been taken into consideration in approving the grant of additions to pensions and gratuities.
§ Lieut.-Colonel FREMANTLEDoes the right hon. Gentleman feel that if he were one of these officers he would he quite content with the treatment proposed to be given to them?
§ Mr. KIRKWOODWhy should there be different treatment to these officers than is given to the working-classes?
§ 3. Lieut.-Colonel FREMANTLEasked the Secretary of State for India whether the staff of the Indo-European Telegraph Department of the India Office now serving in the Persian Gulf have the option of retiring on full pension or gratuity or are being compulsorily transferred to a commercial company; and, if they are so transferred, what steps have been taken to safeguard the terms of their employment and to compensate them for the loss of prospects held out to them on their original engagement?
§ Mr. BENNThose members of the staff of the Indo-European Telegraph Department who are being offered employment with a commercial concern after the termination of their services on the 1st March next will have the option of retiring on the terms and conditions given to officers of the Department whose employment is terminated and the question of compulsory transfer does, therefore, not arise.