“None of these provisions have been carried into effect. The scale of wages under which we are paid should, as stated in the Treasury reply, be uniform with that of the Central Telegraph Office, which is detailed in Schedule B in the copy of the papers ordered to be printed by the Honourable the House of Commons. Nor is work paid for according to its quality, as sorters of the second class are regularly required to perform duties of the highest quality, and consequently appertaining to the first class. On this point we hold that a hard and fast limitation of the classes within certain prescribed numbers is opposed to Mr. Fawcett’s recommendation, and therefore not in accordance with the letter or spirit of this reorganisation scheme sanctioned by the Lords of the Treasury; for it is clearly explained, that the paying for such work solely according to its quality is to be effected by regulating the ‘number of places’ in the class carrying any particular scale, ‘strictly in accordance with the aggregate number’ of duties appertaining to that class. The number of places in the class carrying the first-class scale should, consequently, be limited solely by the number of first-class duties. “The recommendation to reduce the night duty to seven hours has not been carried out, as in the N.P.B. and I.B. a duty exists extending from 5 P.M. to 12.30 A.M., and in the E.C.D.O. there is in existence a duty extending from 4 P.M. until 12 midnight. We are aware that a portion of these duties comes within the hours of the ordinary evening attendance, but in the case of a midnight duty of seven hours (say from 12 midnight to 7 A.M.), a certain portion also comes within the hours of the equally ordinary morning attendance, and we therefore contend that the duties we have mentioned come within the reference of the scheme of midnight duties, and should not therefore exceed seven hours. “We need not point out that overtime is not paid for in accordance with the recommendation of the scheme. That we are entitled to payment at this rate is certain, for although the paragraph reads, ‘for ordinary overtime work at provincial offices,’ it is expressly stated in another paragraph of the report that the sorting force in London cannot be excluded from any improvement of position which may be conceded to the telegraphists and provincial sorting clerks.