I move:—
That a supplementary sum, not exceeding £148,000, be granted to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending 31st March, 1943, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Office of the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs (45 and 46 Vict., c. 74; 8 Edw. 7, c. 48; 1 and 2 Geo. 5, c. 26; the Telegraph Acts, 1863 to 1928, etc.), and of certain other Services administered by that Office.
In the unavoidable absence of the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, I am taking this Vote, and I have the following statement to make. The net total of the Estimate for the financial year ending on the 31st instant, which has already been approved by the Dáil, amounts to £2,513,580. By reason of circumstances which could not have been anticipated, this sum will not be sufficient to cover essential expenditure up to the end of the year, and an additional £148,000 will be required. The actual excess over the authorised Estimate amounts to £166,020, but there are offsets of £17,355 from increased Appropriations-in-Aid, and of £665 from savings on various sub-heads, leaving a net excess of £148,000.
Of the total excess, £62,320 is due to the increased bonus awards operative from 1st June, 1942, and 1st January, 1943, respectively.
The causes of the increases under each of the sub-heads affected are as follows:—In sub-heads A (1), (2), and (3), that is, Salaries, Wages, etc., the total increase amounts to £96,170, of which £59,370 is due to increased bonus; £34,645 is required for extra staff to cope with additional telegraph money order and telephone traffic, which has considerably increased by reason of emergency conditions for food voucher business, rationing schemes, etc.; and £2,155 for increased cost of substitution of officers on loan to other Departments and of improved scales of pay to wireless operator personnel.
Under sub-head E (1), that is, Conveyance of Mails by Rail, the increase is £4,740. The increase is due to extra payments to railway companies in respect of additional parcels conveyed by rail. The parcel post is now being used to a much greater extent than normally for the conveyance of goods, rationed and in short supply, which would ordinarily be sent in larger quantities by other modes of transport.
Under sub-head E (5)—Conveyance of Mails by Air—the increase is £6,700. Owing to the slowness and uncertainty of surface transport in emergency conditions, a considerable increase in the quantity of air mail correspondence for places abroad has taken place, necessitating increased payments to other administrations.
Under sub-head G (1) and (2)—Non-Engineering Stores and Uniform Clothing—there is an increase of £18,210. The actual increase under these sub-heads is £31,800, the result of emergency purchases of uniform clothing and miscellaneous non-engineering stores and of increased allowances to postmen for the use of their private cycles on official duties. There is an offset of £13,590, due to expenditure on the purchase of mail bags, cycles, motor transport, etc., being less than anticipated owing to existing difficulties of supply.
Under sub-head I (1)—Engineering Branch, Salaries, etc.—there is an increase of £20,600. Of this increase £2,500 is in respect of higher bonus payments. The balance, £18,100, represents the cost of staff employed on maintenance work instead of on new construction owing to difficulty in obtaining supplies of engineering materials and the necessity for conserving present stocks. Expenditure on new construction is normally met out of telephone capital.
Under sub-head K—Engineering Materials—there is an increase of £6,000. Of the increase, £4,000 is due to augmented issues for maintenance and renewal purposes and £2,000 to expenditure for replacement, in the current financial year, of portion of the engineering stores, etc., destroyed in the fire in the post office factory in November, 1942.
Under sub-head N (1, 2 and 3)— Superannuation Allowances, etc.—there is an increase of £12,400, due to increased bonus and to superannuation allowances being greater than anticipated. There have been several unexpected retirements during the year before the normal age.
Under sub-head O (1)—Post Office Savings Bank, Salaries, etc.—there is an increase of £1,200, due to increased bonus and to extra provision for increased savings bank business. There are offsetting savings amounting to £665, mainly in respect of reduced travelling expenses due to restriction of transport facilities. The increase of £17,355 under sub-head T is due chiefly to increased receipts from other administrations in respect of agency services; from savings bank funds in respect of provision for increased work and higher bonus payments; from railway companies and others in respect of works required by them; from other Government Departments in respect of stores handled for them and various smaller items.