On April 30, 1903, while the House was in Committee of Supply, Mr. Austen Chamberlain, Postmaster General, prefaced the discussion by the Committee of the Post Office Vote, with the following statement:[205].... "The demand is that a Select Committee of this House should be appointed to examine into the grievances of the Post Office staff. I have made it my business since I have been at the post office to see that every memorial from the staff dealing with their grievances, addressed to me, should come before me personally.... Even though I have felt that many of the matters thus brought to my notice were very small details of administration. I am determined that an official [employee] of the Post Office, going to the head of his service, should receive as fair and careful consideration of his appeal, if he applies to me direct, as if he sought Parliamentary influence to urge his claim. And I venture to think that nothing has occurred during the time that I have been responsible which can justify any servant of the Post Office in saying that he is unable, except by Parliamentary influence, or by Parliamentary exposure, to obtain the attention of the head of the Department. The other day at the request of several Members on both sides of the House, I met the Members themselves, and consented that if they wished, they should be accompanied by members of the Post Office Staff, who should make before them, and in my presence, a statement of the grounds on which they asked for this inquiry by a Select Committee, in order that then and there I might discuss it with my honorable friends. The Vote comes on to-night, and I intend to take this opportunity of making a few observations on the grounds for this Parliamentary inquiry as put forth by the Staff. There are three main grounds alleged by the spokesman for the staff for a Parliamentary inquiry--wages, sanitation [_i. e._, the sanitary condition of certain offices], and meal reliefs, or the time allowed out of working hours for taking refreshment. If a person does eight hours' continuous work he is allowed half an hour out of that time for a meal, reducing his actual working hours to seven and a half hours.... I only wish to draw the attention of the committee to what was described to me as a typical grievance by the spokesman of a deputation which waited on me shortly before Christmas. Certain men are on duty from 10 a. m. to 2 p. m., and from 4 p. m. to 8 p. m., and complain because they are not allowed 20 minutes for tea. In the judgment of any impartial person, was that a reasonable grievance?... I myself have come to the conclusion, ... that while a great number of the complaints made have no foundation in justice, and that a great number of the men who think themselves aggrieved would find it difficult to get, elsewhere than in the public service, such good employment as they have now, there are other cases which are open to improvement and for which further inquiry is needed to fix