27. Sir Percy Hardasked the Postmaster-General whether his attention has been drawn to the practice of officials of his Department, as in Wiltshire, who tempt children away from secondary schools by offers of employment as messengers before the completion of their school course in defiance of the under- 1553 taking which parents are required by the Board of Education to sign stipulating that the children shall remain at school until the end of the school year following their 16th birthday; and whether he will cause this practice to cease?
§ Mr. W. S. MorrisonAppointments in the messenger service in the Post Office are intended primarily for boys and girls from elementary schools and the maximum age limit for appointment is 14½ for boys and 15 for girls. The Post Office does not seek to attract secondary school pupils to such appointments, but it is not the practice to refuse to consider such candidates if their parents desire them to leave school for the purpose of a career in the Post Office. I understand that in the case which my hon. Friend has in mind the approach was from the child's grand-parents, and that the position in view was that of assistant at a sub-post office.
§ Sir P. HurdDoes the right hon. Gentleman realise that if this practice is persisted in, the whole of the secondary school system of this country will be undermined?
§ Mr. MorrisonI do not think that that follows. As I said, we do not seek to attract pupils from secondary schools, but the career of a boy messenger is by no means a blind-alley occupation, and men have risen from that rank to very high positions in the Post Office. If everybody is agreeable to boys or girls taking up that career, I do not think it would be proper for the Post Office to refuse to consider them as candidates simply because they had been to secondary schools.