§ Mr. CARR-GOMMasked the Postmaster-General whether he will alter the ago limit for extra hands at the Post Office during Christmas time so as to include men up to at least fifty years of age, seeing the difficulty which middle-aged men have in obtaining employment?
§ Mr. HERBERT SAMUELI would refer the hon. Member to my reply on this subject to the hon. Member for the Brentford Division on the 8th instant.
§ Mr. NEWMANasked the Postmaster-General whether instructions have been recently issued to superintendents in charge of post offices that any auxiliary hands that may be engaged for extra work at Christmas are to be engaged through the medium of Labour Exchanges; whether applicants to superintendents considered suitable are given a ticket which they are obliged to take to the Bureau to be exchanged there for another ticket, which the applicant then returns with to the superintendent and is taken on for temporary employment; and whether he will state the reason for this procedure?
§ Mr. HERBERT SAMUELInstructions in the sense indicated by the hon. Member have been issued for the guidance of postmasters. Applicants known from previous trial to be suitable are referred to the Labour Exchanges in the provinces, with a special recommendation that they may be included in the lists of officers to be supplied to the Post Office. This arrangement is made in order that all the extra hands required for Christmas pressure may be recruited through the recognised channel, as it is very desirable that the Labour Exchanges should have cognisance 1347W of all forms of casual labour. In London, applicants who have been employed before, are, if suitable, taken on direct by the Post Office; but they are requested to fill up a form for the information of the Labour Exchanges.