NO COMFORT FOR POSTMEN

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 1 September 1932, Page 3

NO COMFORT FOR POSTMEN

OPEN-NECIv SHIRTS NOT ALLOWED

Sir Kingsley Wood, tHe British Post-master-General. has refused a request from the Union of Post Office Workers that postmen should be allowed in hot weather to wear open-necked shirts. He considers that tho proposed relaxation is neither suitable nor necessary, and the official letter adds: “The Postmaster-General considers that to dispenso with a tie and to leave unfastened the lop button or stud of the shirt would be definitely incongruous and altogether out of keeping with the general appearance of uniform, even when a shirt sfich as you advocato was newly put on, and that the incongruity and untidy effect would rapidly increase with tho,wearing of the shirt. “Smartness of appearance, which is generally associated in the public mind with efficiency, would, in the Post-mastcr-Cenerai’s opinion, bo endangered.” The view of the Union of Post Office Workers is that the country postman carrying a heavy bag along miles of hot roads would be just as good a servant of the public and just as much respected by them it lie had a collar open at the neck.