§ Sir JOHN BETHELLasked the Postmaster-General the number of learners who have been utilised during the current year for important public work in the Central Telegraph Office but who have not passed the qualifying school test; whether the supervising instructor is able to check the actual transcription of messages written by these learners or merely acts in the capacity of deciphering bad signals; whether he will state the number of days classified as occasions of emergency on which learners have been employed in the galleries during this year; and whether the innovation has had any adverse effect on the qualifying period of learners at present in the telegraph school?
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§ Mr. HERBERT SAMUELThe statistics, for which the hon. Member asks, are not on record, and, on the general question, I can add nothing to the answer given on the 6th instant. The practice of utilising learners who have passed the school test for transcribing messages is not an "innovation" as the hon. Member supposes.