§ Sir G. JONESasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Labour whether he is in favour of unestablished messengers of his Department being eligible, with others, for promotion to the grade of established messenger, provided 403W their age at the proposed date of establishment is such as, with reckonable previous service, will bring them to an age of 50 or under at such date; and, if so, will he give instructions that in future all unestablished messengers shall be considered when such promotions are about to take place?
Mr. STANLEYIt has always been the practice to regard as eligible for promotion to the grade of established messenger men serving in the class which my hon. Friend has in mind. Hitherto it has been regarded as necessary that very exceptional circumstances must exist to justify promotion in such cases, but it has now been decided that a somewhat less exacting test shall be applied to them in future.