The Short Title of this Act is “The Post and Telegraph Classification and Regulation Act Amendment Act, 1891.”

Notwithstanding anything contained in the fourth section of “The Post and Telegraph Classification and Regulation Act, 1890” (hereinafter referred to as “the said Act”), the right to receive increment in any year shall depend upon the good and diligent conduct of the officer to whose salary such increment is attached, and a certificate thereof shall in each such case be given by the permanent head of the department; and if in the opinion of such permanent head the officer is not entitled to such increment he may issue an order depriving such officer of the increment for that year, which shall in that case not be paid.

But an appeal shall lie from the decision of the permanent head to the Postmaster-General, and his decision thereon shall be final.

The Governor in Council may from time to time, upon the recommendation of the Postmaster-General, fix the amount of salary to be paid to an officer at any sum within the maximum limits of the class or grade in which such officer is placed under the provisions of the said Act, and such amount shall be the salary payable to such officer or in respect of the office which he holds, without annual increment.

The following amendments are made in the First Schedule to the said Act:—

The words and figures in the said Schedule—

are hereby repealed, and in lieu thereof the following words and figures are substituted:—

In the portion of the said First Schedule relating to the Non-clerical Division the following addition is made:—

In the event of the transfer or promotion of an officer being made from the Non-clerical Division to the Clerical Division, created by the said Act, such transferred or promoted officer if then receiving a higher salary than the minimum salary of the class to which he shall be so transferred or promoted shall continue to receive such first-mentioned salary until he shall be entitled to a further increment, or be further promoted or transferred, but subject to the provisions of the said Act and any regulations from time to time in force thereunder.

This provision shall extend to any distributor who may be promoted or transferred to the Clerical or Non-clerical Division.

In any case where a distributor or telegraph message-boy shall have been or be promoted or transferred to the Clerical or Non-clerical Division under the said Act, he shall in case of retirement upon superannuation allowance, or on his services being dispensed with through no fault of his own, be entitled to reckon the period be was employed as a distributor or telegraph message boy, as the case may be.

The power conferred on the Governor in Council under the said Act to make, alter, and vary regulations from time to time shall include the following:—

For fixing the minimum and maximum number of officers in each class or grade:

Providing a minimum of salary in respect of which no deductions shall be made for the compensation fixed to be paid to officers on leaving the service:

Charging rent for quarters belonging to Her Majesty and used or occupied by officers for domestic purposes, and to reduce or abolish any allowance for rent in lieu of quarters:

For the temporary employment of any person in any branch of the service of the Post and Telegraph Department, and to provide that any person so employed possessing expert or technical knowledge or skill may be appointed permanently, but subject to his compliance with the regulations then in force:

For the promotion or transfer of officers employed in one of the divisions of the department to the other of such divisions, as occasion may require; and also for the promotion or transfer of distributors and telegraph message boys to the Clerical or Non-clerical Divisions of such department.