§ Mr. AMMONasked the Under-Secretary of State for India whether there are serious complaints in the public Press of India about the deterioration of the postal service; and will he inquire at an early date as o how far this state of affairs is due to the inadequacy of the overworked supervising staff nod the failure, to recognise the claims for equitable treatment in the matter of pay and prospects as compared with the accounts and telegraph branches of the same Department?
§ Earl WINTERTONI have no reason to think that the supervising staff of the Indian Post Office is inadeqate, or that grievances as to pay and prospects have caused any deterioration in the postal service, but I will make inquiry of the Government of India.
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§ Mr. AMMONasked the Under-Secretary of State for India whether there is discontent among officers in the administrative grades of the Post Office in India owing to the denial to them of rights and privileges under the revised rules relating to acting and other allowances, in spite of several petitions submitted to the Government of India on the subject during the past two years: and will he inquire into this?
§ Earl WINTERTONI ant not aware that the officers of the Indian Post Office have been denied any rights and privileges under the rules referred to by the hon. Member, but I will make inquiry of the Government of India.
§ Mr. AMMONasked the Under-Secretary of State for India whether officers in the higher grades of the Indian Post Office have been excluded from the general scheme of increases of pay in proportion to the high cost of living since the War, while officers of the finance and other Departments recruited in India, who formerly received similar rates of pay in different corresponding grades, have had their salaries considerably increased during the past three or four years; and will he state the reasons therefor?
§ Earl WINTERTONThere has been no general scheme of increases of pay in India in proportion to the high cost of living. The scales of pay of all the services, including the Post Office, have been revised during the last two or three years in consequence of the recommendations of the Public Services Commission.