P. AND T. DEPARTMENT.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18185, 23 September 1924, Page 11

P. AND T. DEPARTMENT.

TO THE EDITOR OP "tttt. rEZES." It is an apen secret that members of Parliament are being pestered with letters from message boy 3 in. the I. and T. Department, expressing dissatisfaction , with their conditions of service. These letters, if reports are to be credited, ore practically identical in strain, indicating beyond a shadow of doubt that they are, to a large •extent, merely duplicates of a specimen letter which has been sent to the boys, and by'them copied and forwarded to members of the House. It passes belief that anyone could be so "utterly childish as to imagine that such letters could ever be' taken as the genuine productions of a lot of young fellows, many of whom could not, - unaided,-put a dozen lines together grammatically. Yet, in the face of the known illiteracy of these youths, someone has been silly enough to advise them to pen protests and to set out their claims for improvements in the conditions of their employment; a.nd that particular "someone" is:in need of disciplinary treatment, which, as a lesson to others, should mean dismissal from the service of the State. An ugly feature of the matter is thai it is understood that the protesting writers, or copyists, are saying to the members of the House, "You scratch my' back, and I'll scratch yours"; or in plain words, "Support me with your voto in the House, and I'll give you my vote at the ballot bos.' The fact that some .of these youngsters may not be of voting age docs not affect the vicious natuxo of the proposal. If there be even a hint of such barefaced, brazen bribery thrown out, an infringement of the regulations governing' tho. Public Service would appear to have been committed, and the penalty for such breach should be visited on the offender. Unthinking, or brdinlcss as' these boys may have beeu, they arc less blameworthy than the frarner or the distributor of the improper and impertinent letter supplied to, these young Civil Servants, and if thecircular, said to have been sent the boys, - bore the signature of any P. a.nd T. official, it is for tho authorities concerned to take drastic auction against that individual. This matter must engage i the prompt attention of the House. —Yours, etc., 1 G.

September 20th, 192-1,