290
add that for some weeks I have had most of the officers working from two to three hours daily (i.e. in their own time) at them, but as one or two of them (i.e. the officers) would slip a day now and again, and as I was anxious to have this part of the work up to date, just as well as the remainder of the work of this office, I inserted the order in the Instruction Book relative to this extra work now complained of by the Clerks.
In conclusion, I beg to point out that Registration and Parcel work calls for far more experience on the part of an officer than ordinary Postal Work, and that the mere matter of keeping up the numerical strength of the staff is not sufficient. This office, for the past two or three months, has been far from what it was for the two or three years previous, and although I have done my best and intend to do so, it can hardly be expected that the efforts of one or two, however good, can atone for the errors and irregularities of half a dozen.
(Sd.) A. Barron.
14/6/99.