asked whether any measure for the redistribution of electoral areas in the forthcoming Session of Parliament will be consequent to and depending on the Government of Ireland Bill being made operative?

I can add nothing to the replies given by my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, on this subject on the 16th and 20th instant.

Does the so-called right of Ireland to have a hundred Members terminate when the Government of Ireland Bill becomes a Statute?

That does not arise out of the question on the Paper.

asked whether, in view of the fact that a Bill may be introduced next Session which, if placed on the Statute Book, may add to the roll of electors over eleven million names, it is the intention of the Government in any franchise, registration, or electoral reform which they may introduce to deal with the expenses of registration and election now thrown on candidates for a seat in Parliament, and which will be increased with any addition to the present electorate?

I must refer the hon. Member to the reply given on this subject by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister to a question on 23rd January by the hon. Member for East Edinburgh.

asked whether the promise of facilities for a Women Suffrage Bill next Session will be given to a Bill for adult female suffrage, or to a Bill for female suffrage on the Norwegian system, or to a Bill to enfranchise female house holders?

As was explained on Monday, this is a matter for the supporters of the movement to decide amongst themselves.

asked the hon. Member for St. George' s-in-the-East, as representing the First Commissioner of Works, whether his Department is responsible for the unsightly condition of the Charing Cross approach to the Admiralty Arch; and, if not, whether he can take steps to induce the responsible authorities speedily to amend what is at present a disfigurement of one of the finest sites in London?

This is a matter outside the jurisdiction of the Office of Works, and one for the London County Council to deal with.

asked the hon. Member for St. George's-in-the-East, as representing the First Commissioner of Works, whether, with a view to diminishing the existing congestion of London streets, his Department has at any time discussed with the London County Council the possibility of allowing underground tramways to be made under thoroughfares and land within the jurisdiction of the Office of Works in such a manner as not to interfere with the amenities of any street or path beneath whose surface such tramways might be run?

The possibility of allowing subways for tramways under land, etc., in the control of the Department was discussed with the London County Council in 1906. The First Commissioner is prepared to consider any further representations which the council may make on the subject.

asked whether the First Commissioner is able to comply with the request made by the signatories to a memorial to him asking that an additional tape machine may be obtained for the convenience of Members; and, if so, where has he decided to put it?

In response to the request received from the hon. Member, the First Commissioner has given instructions that an Exchange Telegraph tape machine shall be installed. He would be glad to receive the views of hon. Members as to where the machine should be placed.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury whether his attention has been called to a meeting of the Kerry old age pension committee in reference to the resignation of the Ardfert pension committee; whether he agrees with the views of pension officers as therein stated regarding means of applicants for old age pensions; whether officers have been given any instruction from headquarters as to the manner in which they are to estimate means; and whether, in view of the conduct of pension officers in this matter, he will have a sworn inquiry with a view to ascertaining the real facts?

I have seen a newspaper report of the proceedings of a meeting of the Kerry old age pension committee on the 13th instant, to which the hon. Member no doubt refers. I understand that the Local Government Board, whose decision is final, agreed with the pension officers in the cases in question that the value of maintenance and other privilege enjoyed by the claimants exceeded £31 10s. per annum. There does not appear to me to be any necessity for an inquiry of the kind suggested.

Has the right hon. Gentleman seen the report by which these officers arrived at their estimate?

No, I asked the hon. Member to furnish me with figures when he put a similar question a few weeks ago, and he has not yet furnished them.

Does the right hon. Gentleman hold with these officers, who appear to think that a farmer in Ireland has no right to give his farm to his son when he is about to die?

Will the right hon. Gentleman give the Irish Members any information as to the basis—the cost of living and so on—on which this estimate was based, and whether it was made by the pension officers or the Local Government Board?

I would ask my 3 hon. Friend to put that question down.

I have asked that supplementary question a dozen times.

I did not ask the hon. Member for a supplementary question, but to put it on the Paper.

I will do so.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will lay upon the Table of the House copies of any regulations now in force in Holland, Belgium, France, and Germany, respectively, as to the carriage of deck-loads of heavy or other timber by sea going vessels owned by the subjects or entering the ports of those countries?

So far as my present information goes, I am not aware of any specific regulations with regard to-the carriage of deck-loads of timber in ships in force in the countries named, but I will make further inquiries as to the present position of the question abroad and inform the hon. Member of the result.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether, in respect to the tube system of railways in the case of accidents caused by disregard of signals, it is the practice of the Board of Trade to examine the drivers for colour vision; whether, if so, he can state what method of testing is adopted; whether it has proved entirely satisfactory; whether the colour vision of the driver who ran past the danger signal at Caledonian Road on 4th September was found to be normal; whether more than one method of testing was employed; and, if so, whether the results obtained were consistent?

The only accident of this kind on a tube railway into which an inquiry has been held on behalf of the Board of Trade was the collision at Caledonian Road station in September last. The inspecting officer who held the inquiry did not consider it necessary -to have the colour vision of the motor man concerned specially tested, but it appeared from the evidence that the man's eyesight had been tested by the company in the previous March, and been found to be satisfactory.

Can the right hon. Gentleman say whether these men are tested for colour; if so, whether they are tested by the ordinary skein or by lamp?

As regards the railway companies I cannot answer, but I will make inquiries.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether there is a Labour Exchange at Brixton and, if not, if he will state how far the Brixton Town Hall is from the nearest Exchange?

The nearest Exchange to the Brixton Town Hall is at Camberwell, 1½ miles distant.

asked if there is any information among the Emigration Returns showing that an excessive number of persons connected with the building trade have left this country during the past three years?

The entries in the passenger lists of passengers' occupations are in many cases so vague and unsatisfactory that ten years ago the attempt to tabulate these entries by separate trades was abandoned. I regret, therefore, that I am not able to give the information desired.

asked the President of the Board of Education if he is aware that not only do local authorities have to pay the whole cost of the medical inspection of school children, but if, on the advice of the medical officer, they exclude children from school or compel their attendance at centres for remedial treatment they suffer a further loss of Grants owing to their absence; and if he proposes, by legislation or otherwise, to remove this burden from the ratepayers?

The answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. My right hon. Friend has received no evidence to show that the reduction of Grant due to exclusion of children from school for the reasons mentioned in the question has, in fact, been substantial. He is considering how far it is possible to effect a reconstruction of the system of Grants, but he is not in a position to make any statement on the matter.

asked the President of the Board of Education whether, in view of the increased demand throughout the country for instruction in handicraft and domestic economy, and the tendency of local education authorities to construct buildings for these purposes of creosoted timber, corrugated iron, match-boarding, and other inexpensive materials, the Board can supply authorities with model plans and elevations of such buildings, and advice as to their construction and materials?

The Board are always ready to place at the disposal of local authorities all the information they have in regard to materials and buildings suitable for classes in special subjects. Experiment and development in the use of quasi-permanent material and the internal arrangement of the buildings are to be encouraged. The issue of model plans and specifications would, my right hon. Friend is afraid, tend to stereotype one particular kind of building, and would, therefore, be undesirable.

The hon. Gentleman has not quite answered my question; it was as to any information of this sort that the Board could supply to the Local Education Authorities.

Yes, certainly, if personal application is made.

asked the Postmaster-General if he is yet in a position to make a statement in respect to the Board of Trade inquiry into the wages paid by Messrs. J. Hendersons, coach builders, of Glasgow, before the recent strike of the men employed by the firm?

I have inquired into this matter very fully, and have received from the Board of Trade particulars of the wages paid by a number of firms in Glasgow. There does not appear to be any standard rate for this kind of work, and the facts now before me show that the average weekly wages paid by Messrs. J. Henderson, before the recent strike, to coach bodymakers and painters were almost precisely the same as those paid by other employers of men performing work of a similar kind.

asked the Postmaster-General (1) whether a code word costs more to transmit by cable than a plain-language word; and, if not, whether he can give to the plain man the advantage that comes to the commercial man, who has raised coding to such a fine art that he can transfer, by cabling one word, the contents of a business letter requesting detailed quotations for an extensive waterworks plant; (2) whether he can give an accurate estimate of the cost of completing the last link in the All-Red cable; and (3) whether, from his experience of deferred cables to Australasia, he could give an estimate of the increased business that would accrue to the Pacific cable if he altered deferreds to include codes at 1s. 6d. a word, and ordinary plain language at 1s. a word?

The cost of dealing with a code word is undoubtedly greater on the average than that of dealing with a plain-language word, and this was one of the considerations which induced the cable companies to accept the system of half rates for deferred telegrams in plain language which came into operation last January. In the case of the Pacific cable, regarding which alone I have definite information, such deferred telegrams during the first half of last year constituted about 17 per cent, of the total traffic (other than Press traffic) passing over that cable between the United Kingdom and Australasia. This appears to have been largely new traffic; but I fear that I cannot from these data estimate the effect of the reductions suggested by the hon. Member. No recent estimate has been obtained of the cost of an Anglo-Canadian cable, but I understand that the cost of a cable laid in 1910 between this country and Newfoundland was about £450,000.

asked whether many applicants for telephones in the city of Dublin have had to wait for six months and more before being provided with instruments and numbers, and that old subscribers who remove to new premises are no better treated; and whether any steps are being taken to supply the citizens of Dublin with telephone facilities adequate to their growing needs and to reduce the present delay in installing instruments?

I regret that there is considerable delay in providing telephone installations in Dublin owing to the fact that, on the transfer of the National Telephone Company's system, it was found that in that city, as in many other places in the United Kingdom, there were no spare wires available for meeting the demand. Special steps have been taken to provide additional underground plant and everything possible is being done to expedite the completion of the work, which will then provide for future requirements for a considerable period.

asked the President of the Local Government Board the number of infectious illnesses which have visited the young children at the Park School, Harwell, since its control by the West London school managers; the number of children affected in each instance; and the duration of the illness?

I am sending the Noble Lord a statement giving particulars with regard to this matter. As to the last part of the question, precise information as to the duration of illness in each individual case could not readily be obtained.

asked the President of the Local Government Board whether his attention has been called to the inadequate provision of water supplies in the rural districts of Kent, and whether he has any official information as to the number of rural parishes depending wholly or in part on open ponds for their supply of drinking water?

My attention has been called to deficiency of water supply in a few localities in rural districts in Kent, and in several cases I am in communication with the local authority. With regard to the last part of the question, I hope shortly to be in a position to publish a return of the sources of water supply in the various districts.

asked the Secretary for Scotland whether the vaccination of Andrew Nicholson, of Kirkcaldy, aged eighty-six, was imposed upon him by a public officer without his request; and, if so, can he give some explanation of this action?

I cannot add anything t) the reply which I gave to the hon. Member for Dundee on 7th January. The medical practitioner adheres to the statement which I then quoted.

asked the Secretary for Scotland if it is proposed to introduce next Session a Milk and Dairies Bill for the prevention of the production and sale of diseased and dirty milk on the same lines as that recently introduced and applicable to England and Wales and the similar Bill already promised for Ireland?

As the hon. Member is doubtless aware, a, Milk and Dairies Bill was introduced in another place by my predecessor in 1909, and was passed through Committee and Report stages. I cannot at this time pledge the Government as to next Session's legislation, but there is every intention of introducing a Scottish Bill at the earliest practicable date.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that damage has been recently caused to the property of Messrs. H. L. Raphael, adjoining the Limehouse Cut, by stone throwing and robbery; whether he will institute a searching inquiry as to the continued state of affairs by which portions of the Metropolitan boroughs of Stepney and Poplar are left wholly un protected and without security for life and property; and will he take steps to remedy the same?

The Commissioner of Police reports that he is not aware that any damage has been done to the property of Messrs. H. L. Raphael. No complaint to that effect has been made to the police. It is not the case that any public portions of the boroughs referred to are left unprotected. The protection of private property is a matter for the owners, who in the case of Limehouse Cut possess statutory powers for this purpose; but the Metropolitan police would deal with offences occurring on Limehouse Cut in the same manner as elsewhere on their being brought to notice.

asked the Home Secretary whether his attention has been called to the condition of the waterway or navigation and towing paths adjoining known as the Limehouse Cut, whereby robberies have been committed from barges navigating in the Cut" and from premises adjacent to the Cut, and to the fact that the condition of the neighbourhood has been described as under a reign of terror owing to the conduct of a number of persons of the criminal class, and that the towing path of the Cut is a rendezvous for gamblers; whether he is aware that, upon complaint, the Metropolitan police have, notwithstanding the invitation of the Lee Conservancy Board that the police should patrol the Cut at the cost of the Board and take such steps as might be necessary for the proper protection of merchandise and premises, declined to take any steps on the ground that it was contrary to established practice for the police to patrol the towing path and banks of the navigation; and whether, notwithstanding the fact that the Board are themselves large ratepayers, this attitude on the part of the police has his sanction?

Limehouse Cut is private property, and is policed by constables appointed by the Lee Conservancy Board under the provisions of the Canals and Rivers Police Act, 1840. The Metropolitan police do not patrol private property, save in exceptional circumstances; and though the Commissioner would have been glad to assist the Lee Conservancy Board, if possible, by supplying police at the cost of the Board, he found that the towing path which he was asked to patrol was so dangerous owing to its defective condition that he was compelled to decline.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland if he will furnish the hon. Member for West Cavan with the names of the eighty-six Catholic magistrates for Cavan as set out in the Return to the hon. Member for South Down, No. 369; will he say from what source the figures set out in the said Return were procured; and, if the figures in this Return for county Cavan be wrong, will he state what are the true figures?

The Lord Chancellor informs me that it is not the practice to identify the magistrates belonging to any religious denomination by giving their names; but of the eighty-six magistrates of the county Cavan who were stated in the Return referred to as belonging to the Roman Catholic religion, the information in that respect was in seventy-seven cases obtained from the magistrates themselves, and in the other nine cases from personal knowledge or official sources.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the only public record available to Members of this House shows there are only sixty-seven, and not eighty-six?

I do not know. If seventy-seven gentlemen say they are Roman Catholics I cannot help them.