The discontent in the postal service, which has steadily grown
since the publication of the Report of the Holt Com- mittee, now threatens to become acute. Last Saturday the Postmen's Federation at Birmingham rejected the Report as inadequate, recommending the adoption of a strike policy, and similar resolutions have been passed at a conference of tele- graph and postal clerks at Liverpool. The case for the Post Office authorities was issued on Monday night. It recalls the appointment of the Hobhouse Select Committee in 1906, the recommendations of which were carried out in 1908 at a total ultimate cost of £680,000 a year. Although the Hobhouse Committee declined to recommend a quinquennial committee of inquiry, the Government yielded to.the representations of the Post Office staff in 1911 and appointed the Holt Com- mittee to inquire into their claims. These claims, if granted, would have involved an additional annual expenditure of £10,000,000. The Report recommended improvements in wages and pensions involving an increased expenditure of more than 4,000,000 a year, which are now being considered by the Government, and it is noted that "the reduction in the Post Office contribution to the national revenue thus caused can only be made good by additional taxation." Finally, it is pointed out that the Post Office employees compare most favourably in wages, hours of duty, and holidays with policemen and firemen.
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