§ Mr. Joplingasked the Minister of Power if he will list the towns in England and Wales where his offices were shut on New Year's Day; which of them have begun a practice of closing on New Year's Day during the last four years; and which offices had a third day's holiday during Christmas week.
§ Mr. FreesonAll the Ministry's offices in England and Wales, including those dealing with the general public, were open on New Year's Day except for a small number of testing stations—in Farn-worth, Liverpool, Manchester and New-castle-on-Tyne—which have for several years made a practice of closing on that day to suit local needs. All staff of the Ministry were allowed a third day's holiday over Christmas; the main offices of the Ministry remained open in London288W and elsewhere but certain research establishments and testing stations, where the staff were not required to be on duty, were closed in the following places—Bath, Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Buxton, Cambridge, Cheltenham, Coventry, Exeter, Farnworth, Gloucester, Hull, Leeds, Leicester, London, Manchester, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Newport (Mon.), Nottingham, Oldham, Reading, Sheffield, Southampton and Swansea.