THE CIVIL SERVICE AND THE WAR.
[To TRH EDITOR OP TDB " SPECTATOR.n
Sint,--It is unfortunate in this time of national stress that your article, " The Civil Service and the Army," should libel the Post Office organizations iu the way it does. You say that we, as voters, resist any attempt to extend the employ- ment of women, and have done so even during the war. These statements are incorrect. The only question which has arisen between the Post Office and ourselves for years with regard to the employment of women is as to the proportions of amen and women to be established, and on that point practical agreement had been reached, while the Associations specifically consented to the employment of women during the war. It. is true that their pay and their fitness for doing certain special duties have been discussed between the Post Office and ourselves, but in the meat friendly fashion, and without any appeal to Parliament. Your statement, there- fore, that we try successfully to prevent any general trans- ference of postal work to women, quite apart from the interests of men who enlist, is unwarranted by the facts.
Your further statements that we undisgnisedly use our votes for our own personal or class advantage, and that our view is that the Post Office exists primarily for our benefit, are, of course, matters of opinion. I need only say that we do not agree with them, and that of all times this is the most unhappy in which to publish so sweeping and controversial a statement. May I inform you that forty-three thousand men have gone from the Post Office to the Army and Navy ; that special steps are being taken, with the full concurrence and help of the Association leaders, to appeal to those who are left ; that the staff is raising a fund of 292,000 a year to keep the dependants of Post Office sailors and soldiers from the books of the Prince of Wales's Fund; and that in addition it has contributed a good many thousands of pounds to the National Fund, to local and special funds (I myself have collected nearly £3,500 for the relief of Belgian postal families), besides doing an enormous amount of voluntary work P I do not suggest that we are doing more than we should, but I do suggest that, in the interests of that good feeling between the classes which will win the war, your paragraph requires modification.—I am, Sir, &o., G. H. STUART. National Joint Committee of Postal and Telegraph Associations, Parliament Mansions, Victoria Street, S.W.
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