§ Sir O. PHILIPPSasked the Postmaster General whether girls who have received a secondary school education until the age of 16 are then too old to make application for appointment as probationers in the Post Office telephone service; and, if so, whether, since this excludes from the service a number of girls who have had the advantage of a better education than those who leave school at the age of 14 and, in effect, penalises the children of those who have made sacrifices in order to give them the benefit of a rather better education, he will remove this disqualification?
§ Mr. PEASEThe maximum age limit for the appointment of girl probationer in the Post Office is 15. In order to keep the number of girls passing through the class at a minimum and thus to ensure their absorption in adult situations, it is necessary that girl probationers should be recruited at a comparatively early age; and it is found that girls of a suitable type are forthcoming from the elementary schools. Girls over 16 years of age are eligible for appointment as telephonist and to compete for a number of other62W situations in the Post Office; and the prospects of candidates from secondary schools are not materially affected by the maximum age limit for appointment as girl probationer being fixed at 15.