§ Mr. GODFREY COLLINSasked the Postmaster-General how the index number for Greenock is arrived at by the Pos. Office officials; what are the separate numbers of which it is made up; what is the source and the date of the data; and in what manner are the items combined to obtain the result of 107 now notified to the local staff?
§ Mr. HOBHOUSEThe separate rents and prices index numbers for Greenock, based on data supplied by the Board of Trade and adjusted to the common standard as recommended by the Holt Committee, are: Hants, 120; prices, 104. The index number 107 is arrived at by combining the component rents and prices index numbers in the proportion one part rent to four parts prices, in accordance with the usual practice. The figures on which the index number is based relate to October, 1905, as do all the figures of cost of living hitherto used for Post Office classification purposes, but the question of making further investigations on the lines of the Board of Trade inquiry in 1912 (Cd. 6955) is under consideration.