§ Mr. DUNCAN MILLARasked the Postmaster-General whether he is aware that inconvenience has been caused to the public through the closing of the Beattock Post Office on Wednesday afternoons; and whether he can make arrangements for the sale of stamps and postal orders, etc., and the transmission of telegrams at this post office in future on Wednesday afternoons?
§ Mr. HERBERT SAMUELThe business formerly done at Beattock Post Office on Wednesday afternoons was very small,1606W and, as the shopkeepers at Beattock close early on that day, I do not think that much inconvenience results from the weekly half-holiday at the post office, which has j been in force since August, 1911. Tele-grams for Beattock are delivered on Wednesday afternoons from Moffat (two miles, distant) without extra charge. The practice of allowing rural post offices to close early on one day a week, which was introduced upon the recommendation of the Parliamentary Committee on Post Office Servants of 1907, is in force at many post offices throughout the United Kingdom.