§ Mr. NANNETTIasked the Postmaster-General if he is aware that it is the practice in the Dublin sorting office to send out a number of service messages on Sunday morning summoning officers for duty that evening; whether he is aware that by this practice officers are made to perform duty every Sunday, though the duty chart provides that an officer shall have every alternate Sunday as a day of rest; will he see that the officers at Dublin have at least the rest provided for by the chart; and will he say how Dublin compares with large cross-Channel offices in the matter of Sunday duty?
§ Mr. SYDNEY BUXTONThe arrangement under which alternate Sunday relief is afforded to the officers of the Dublin sorting office is disturbed only when an American mail arrives on Sunday evening. On such occasions it is frequently necessary to summon men who were on duty the previous Sunday. I shall be glad to modify this arrangement if practicable. The incidence of Sunday duty at large offices depends entirely upon local circumstances, and no useful comparison can be made.
§ Mr. NANNETTIasked the Postmaster-General if he is aware that the clerk employed at the Anglo and Commercial relays on night duty at Dublin (who is paid for by those companies) is frequently withdrawn from the relays to keep down delay on the Marconi and Post Office telegrams; whether such a proceeding is justifiable, seeing that the Anglo, Commercial, and Marconi are rival companies; will he see that an adequate staff is provided on night duty in order that the work can be disposed of in such a manner without making 580W it appear that the Marconi Company is getting preferential treatment?
§ Mr. BUXTONI have made inquiry into the matter. The staff arrangements for telegraph night duty in Dublin are not correctly described in the question, and there is no justification for the suggestion that preferential treatment is given to the work of one company to the detriment of the interests of others.