75. Mr. Edmund Harveyasked the Postmaster-General whether he is aware that temporary sorters employed during the period of the Christmas pressure, work in many cases for 12-hour shifts; and whether arrangements can be made for the employment of a larger number of sorters for shorter shifts?
§ Major TryonInquiry in London and in certain large provincial towns shows that the arrangement whereby temporary staff worked as much as 12 hours daily operated at the offices concerned only for a few days at the height of the recent Christmas pressure period. Any further appreciable increase in the number of officers employed would have involved considerable difficulties of recruitment, training and accommodation. We took on an exceptionally large number of extra men this Christmas, and I am glad to have this opportunity of thanking the permanent and temporary staff for the very successful way in which they handled the largest Christmas traffic we have ever known.