§ Mr. W. BAKERasked the Postmaster-General (1) the numbers, respectively, of men and women employed in the Post Office telegraph service;
(2) the numbers, respectively, of the men and women who were employed in the Post Office telegraph service in 1914;
837W(3) the total number of Post Office telegraphists, men and women, who served with the signal units of the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force during the Great War; and whether he will give the percentage of fully qualified postal telegraphists, men and women, who so enlisted?
§ Sir W. MITCHELL-THOMSONThe numbers of men and women employed for the whole of their time in the Post Office telegraph service in 1914 and in 1927, respectively, are approximately: 1914, 6,000 men and 3,400 women; 1927, 5,300 men and 3,200 women. In addition, there were some 8,400 men and 4,500 women in 1914 liable to be employed for some part of their time on telegraph work. In 1927 the corresponding figures are 9,100 men and 5,400 women, but in neither case can the numbers actually employed on telegraph work be stated. The total number of fully qualified male telegraph staff who were released for service with the Forces during the period of the War was about 11,000, of whom the great majority served at one time or another in signal units. Owing to the number of years over which recruitment for the Forces was spread and the constant changes of staff', it is impracticable to say what relation the number of enlistments bears to the number of fully qualified telegraph staff available. I regret that no figures are available as regards the women.