The Sun.
London, England, 1865-05-13 00:00:00

THE IRISH CHURCH.

Mr. S. KNOX asked the bon. member for Swansea When
he proposed proceeding with his motion relative to the
Irish Church ?

Mr. DILL WYN said he should be very glad to bring it
on as early as possible if the Government would givo him
a day for the purpose. (Laughter.)
Mr. S. KNOX asked the right hon. baronet.(Sir G. Grey)
whethei the Government would accede to the request of
the hon. member ?

Sir G. GREY replied that at the present time all the
Government days were fully occupied with business.
(Laughter.)
SUPPLY—THE POST-OFFICE SAVINGS BANKS.
On the motion for going into committee of supply,
c • AVE rose to call the attention of the house to the
allowance to Postmasters in respect of post-office saNIDB

banks. He said, speaking generally, the postmasters
throughout the country were greatly dissatisfied in conse-
quence of a very great amount of labour being put upon
them, and that labour not being properly paid for. He
moved that in the opinion of the house it wL, neither just
nor expedient that labour and responsibiAty hould be im-
posed upon public servants without adecuate remune-
ration.

Mr. AYRTON thought that a committee ought to be at
once appointed to inquire into the working of the act under
which they were established, with a view of discovering
how the matter stands with respect to carrying on this
new branch of business. If it was found that these banks
could not be carried on without a loss the sooner new ar-
rangements could be entered into the better. He thought
that course much more advisable, that it at once met the
case by an increase of expenditure.
Mr. SCOURFIELD thought the hon. gentleman who
had brought the matter forward had made out a case for
the favourable consideration of the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer.
Mr. F. PEEL said it would be a very bad sys-
tem of payment for public servants if the sala-
ries were made dependent upon the surplus of
any particular sum after the payment of the expenses.
Ho thought that the proper system was to make that
payment irrespective of that, because then the pub-
lic servants would all be quite independent of the
success or non-success of the system they might be
engaged in carrying out. There were about 3,000 post-
masters engaged in carrying out the Post-offices
Savings Bank Act, and of that number 2,200
were sub-officers, and 800 men were of a higher de-
scription. The remuneration paid was according to the
work done, just as was the case in the Post-office money
order offices.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said that his
hon. friend the member for Oxford made his. teeth water
when he talked of a profit of 10 per cent. upon those trans-
actions, and if his hon. friend would show the Government
how they could realise that calculatian he would do them
a very great service. It was no doubt an important ques-
tion how far the Post-office savings banks were at present
self-supporting. The Government, in proposing the mea-
sure, intended that they should be self-supporting, and he
believed that they were so ; but the house ought not to as-
sume the existence of so large a surplus as the hon. gentle-
man opposite (Mr. Cave) imagined. The fact was, the
system was so novel and so complex that it was as yet im-
possible to ascertain the precise nature of the results. In
any case he did not think the existence of a system had
appreciable relation to the ' question under the notice
of the house. If there was a surplus the question
which the Government would have to consider was
whether they could afford to increase the rate of interest
to the depositors. His hon. friend the member for the
Tower Hamlets drew a lamentable picture of the operation
of the system, and he told them that the depositors received
less interest than they had expected. But if that were so,
it was a very extraordinary circumstance that the number
of depositors was constantly increasing. (Hear, hear.)
Wiht respect to the proposal immediately before the house,
he should observe that no one could object to it as an ab-
stract proposition ; and it had been the desire of the Post-
office authorities to act upon it as far as possible. Not less
than 2,200 postmasters were paid according to the amount
of work which they performed ; and the cases of those
postmasters who were not so paid, and on whom any addi-
tional duties were imposed, were undergoing constant re-
vision. No sweeping plan ought to be adopted, and a fair
and careful application of the system was necessary.

The motion was then withdrawn.
WESTMINSTER IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION.

Sir W. GALL WEY called attention to the expenditure
and working of the Westminster Improvement Commis-
sion, especially with reference to the intended demolition
of a large number of houses in Westminster exclusively in-
habited by the poorer classes.
Mr. TITE, as chairman of the commission, described
the proceedings of that body, and explained that it was
not the industrious work-people living in the district who
would be affected by the contemplated improvements, but
a low and non-industrious part of the population.
A short discussion followed, in the course of which
several hon. members bore testimony to the value of the
improvements which had taken place under the adminis-
tration of the present commission.
Mr. D. SEYMOUR directed attention to the position of
the civil assistants on the ordnance survey in regard to
their remuneration, and asked upon what grounds the
principle of classification adopted in the Irish valuation
and other Government offices was denied to this depart-
ment of the public service.

Observations were also made by Mr. Alderman BOSE
and Mr. B. COCHRANE.
The Marquis of HARTINGTON said there was no
analogy between the class of employes and other civil
servants, while under the present system and rates of pay
the department was able to get with ease exactly the kind
of service which was required.
THE WYCOMBE UNION AND THE POOR LAW