§ Mr. SAMUEL SAMUELasked the Secretary to the Treasury whether the Treasury will give the case of women clerks in the various public Departments their consideration, with a view of giving them equal remuneration to men in a similar position, or, if they cannot concede this, will they submit the matter to arbitration for women clerks' wages to be settled?
§ Mr. BALDWINThe Treasury are not prepared to accept the principle suggested, and, as indicated in my reply of to-day to the question of the hon. Member for North St. Pancras, the question of principle involved is not within the competence of the Conciliation and Arbitration Board.
§ Sir H. NIELDasked the Postmaster-General what is being done to relieve the stagnation with regard to promotion among the senior second-class women clerks of the Post Office Savings Bank; and whether he will consider if some better use can be made in the service of these highly-trained and efficient women, many of whom have occupied their present position from nine to seventeen years, and whose chances of promotion appear so remote as to be all but negligible, and whose services in commercial circles would command a much higher rate of pay than they are receiving at present?
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§ Mr. ILLINGWORTHThe rate of promotion must necessarily depend upon the rate at which vacancies occur on the higher classes, and I cannot create appointments to give promotion. A considerable number of promotions have been made in the last two years. There is great pressure of work in the Savings Bank in connection with the War Loans, and the clerks referred to could not be more usefully employed elsewhere.