§ General CROFTasked the Postmaster-General whether he has given instructions that all men above the rank of sorting clerk are to be protected from military service; whether he is aware that many of the men so protected secured their posts owing to the absence of their colleagues overseas; whether he considers the military requirements are best met by allowing men of forty-eight and forty-nine to be called while Grade 1 men of the earlier military age are retained; and whether he will cancel the instructions referred to and release the remaining men according to age and medical fitness?
§ Mr. ILLINGWORTHNo such instructions have been issued. Men on the supervising classes of the old military age are being released as far as possible, while, 793W as regards the new military age, no men, whether on the supervising or manipulative classes, are being released at present.