asked the First Lord of the Admiralty what is the exact amount of pay to naval junior mechanics in the Royal Flying Corps and to those naval junior mechanics not so employed; and what, calculated on this basis, is the amount of danger pay which the former receive?

Junior mechanics in the Royal Flying Corps receive pay at the following rates:—

First-class mechanic	…	4s. a day
Second-class mechanic	…	2s. a day

together with flying pay of 4s. or 2s. a day if qualified as fliers. If they are not so qualified, they receive only the pay of 4s. or 2s. a day according to their class in the corps. These mechanics are drawn from various classes in the Navy, where their pay may have ranged from 1s. 8d. to 2s. 10d. a day. For instance, a carpenter's crew in the Navy, with pay of 2s. 6d. a day, is graded as first-class mechanic at 4s. a day. The actual addition on joining the Royal Flying Corps to the pay received while in the Navy is not, therefore, the same in all cases. But in every case the rate is on a scale higher than would be received by the individual in the Royal Navy, the Royal Flying Corps rates of pay being intended to cover the risk involved in being occasionally taken up as passengers in aeroplanes.

Do I understand the right hon. Gentleman to say that the pay of carpenter's crews has been raised?

Oh, no, no; I gave the hon. Member an illustration showing how the Royal Flying Corps is on a scale higher in the Navy.

asked how many airships are under construction or have been ordered for the British Navy; what are their types; and do they belong to the rigid, semi-rigid, or non-rigid category?

Two non-rigid have been ordered and are almost completed; one has carried out successful preliminary flights. A joint naval and military non-rigid airship is also under construction. This vessel is for training purposes.

Would the right hon. Gentleman say what is the size of these airships and when the contractors are bound to deliver them?

I think I could give that information or a good part of it if notice were given.

What will be the speed of these two airships?

The speed will be considerable, but I should not like to say without inquiry whether or not I ought to give it.

asked how many aeroplanes and hydro-aeroplanes, respectively, are complete, building, or on order for the British Navy?

I do not wish to add anything at present to my statement in presenting the Navy Estimates.

asked the Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that, of the sixteen Zeppelin airships that have been built in Germany, only six remain, the rest having already proved obsolete, useless, or disastrous; and whether he will continue to resist the appeal made to him to build or buy airships similar to those which in other countries have been found far from satisfactory?

My right hon. Friend has asked me to answer this question. The statement that of sixteen Zeppelin airships built in Germany only six remain is correct. There is no intention of building or buying airships of types that have proved unsatisfactory in other countries.

asked the Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that a German airship was recently driven out of its course and forced to alight on a French champ de Mars, and that before this airship was released drawings, photographs, and descriptions were taken of five inventions hitherto held to be the exclusive property of the German Government, and of which specifications were treated as military secrets; and whether he can state that due care will be taken to prevent British aircraft from alighting on foreign drill-grounds, and being thus exposed to the scrutiny of foreign military authorities?

The replies to the first and third parts of the question are in the affirmative. As regards the second part of the question, I have no information to give.

asked what steps are being taken in regard to the offer of Messrs. Cain, of Liverpool, of two fully equipped aeroplanes; whether he is prepared to countenance the formation of a Volunteer Flying Corps; and if he will consider the possibility of asking the donors above mentioned to apply the gift to the furtherance of aviation in some other direction in the event of the present offer being unacceptable?

This matter is now under consideration, and a reply will be sent in a few days, a copy of which I will send to the hon. Gentleman. The reply to the last part of the question is in the affirmative.

asked (1) whether it has yet been found possible to give Special Reserve officers pay during instruction in flying; and (2) whether, as officers have to provide their own lodging and outfit for instruction in flying, he can now say whether anything can be allowed towards these expenses if an officer is prevented by illness or accident from obtaining a certificate?

I recognise that there may be cases in which the present Regulations operate hardly upon individuals, and I am considering whether some means of obviating this can be found.

asked the Secretary of State for War (1) the names of the members of the Parliamentary Aerial Defence Committee who induced the War Office to purchase for £18,000, part of which sum was contributed by wealthy patriotic persons, the Clement-Bayard airship which has lately been dismantled; (2) whether, when the Clement-Bayard airship was dismantled, any of the parts were sold; if so, what sum was realised; if not, what value has been obtained for an airship which in 1910 was considered cheap at £18,000; and (3) whether he is aware that the Clement-Bayard airship purchased in October, 1910, was stated by its owner to have cost over £30,000 originally, but was soon after sold by him for £18,000; that this airship was declared by the Parliamentary Aerial Defence Committee to have proved her worth for military operations, but has proved of no military value whatsoever; and whether he will now publish all the correspondence about this airship which passed prior and subsequent to the purchase?

There is no official record of the names of the Committee mentioned, of which the hon. and gallant Member for the Fareham Division was Chairman. No parts of the airship have as yet been sold. The engines are still available and are at the aircraft factory. As regards Question 33, the reply to the first part is in the affirmative; and as regards the second part, no such definite statement by the Committee can be traced. As regards the last part of the question, the reply is in the negative.

May I ask the right hon. Gentleman if he thinks that the action of the War Office in regard to this airship was justified? If the airship was fit for service, why was it not used, and if it was not fit for service, why was it purchased?

I think part of the last two supplementary questions is answered in some of the replies I have just given. Of course, it is the fact that the envelope of this balloon leaked so badly that it would have been very costly to have inflated it. No doubt mistakes were made on both sides, by hon. Gentlemen on both sides of the House, as well as by my Department, but we have not made half as many mistakes in this matter as our neighbours.

Was not the leakage known to the War Office before the ship was purchased?

It was before my time. There was a strong Committee of this House engaged in these transactions, and I understand they thought the airship was serviceable, and I suppose we thought it was when it was taken over. Mistakes must be made in a new matter of this kind. We have not made very many mistakes of a large kind in the matter of airships. We have been signally successful.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for India whether the provision of £15,500 and £4,100 for forming a school of aeronautics and for aviation buildings, respectively, represents all that is to be done in India in 1913–14 in respect of military aviation; whether officers of native regiments when on leave in England will be under some official disability, which prevents them from being appointed to the Royal Flying Corps; whether officers of British regiments serving in India can only join such corps on less favourable pecuniary terms than their brother officers serving in regiments at home; whether an officer who was attached for a short period to the late air battalion has been appointed adviser on aviation to the Indian General Staff; why officers serving in India, which offers superior physical conditions for airship and aeroplane practice to those obtaining in these Islands, are not encouraged to perfect themselves in the art of aviation by being allowed to join the Royal Flying Corps on favourable terms; and whether the Secretary of State in Council will advise the Governor General in Council that the provisions made in the Budget and the conditions under which officers serving in India can learn the art of aviation are wholly inadequate to the importance this branch of warfare has attained?

The Government of India intend to have their own school of military aviation, and have provided the sums mentioned by the hon. Member to meet preliminary charges in the present year. The scheme will be under an officer trained in the Home air battalion here, and the future staff of instructors will be similarly trained at the cost of Indian revenues. In view of the facilities which will shortly exist in India, it is not considered necessary to assist from Indian revenues officers of the Indian Army to learn flying in this country, or to accept charges on account of the training here of officers of British regiments stationed in India. The Secretary of State has no reason to suppose that these arrangements will prove inadequate.

Can the hon. Gentleman fill in the answer with a date or two; when it is going to take place?

I am afraid I could not do so without referring once again to the papers. I will let him know.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he has received any further information regarding the sale of eight Indian boys and four girls brought from the Putumayo district by Lieutenant O'Donovan in August of last year; and whether he has taken any and, if so, what steps in the matter?

The Acting British Consul at Iquitos has lately reported that he has received information confirming the allegation that eight Indian boys and four girls, brought from the Putumayo by Lieutenant O'Donovan, of the Peruvian Army, were received on board the launch at the mouth of the River Javary. The Acting Consul is further informed that these Indians were sold and put ashore at an estate, named San Pablo, some 120 miles above the frontier in Peruvian territory. The eldest girl, whose age was estimated at about seventeen years, is said to have been since seen at Iquitos. I am instructing His Majesty's representative in Peru by mail to bring the substance of this report to the notice of the Peruvian Government and to ask them for any observations they may desire to offer on the subject, calling attention to Article XV. of the Treaty of 10th April, 1850, between Great Britain and Peru, in regard to prohibition of participation in the slave trade.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether his attention has been called to the unsatisfactory manner in which the naturalisation laws have worked in our Over-sea Dominions; and whether he can see his way to introduce a Bill on the subject?

The amendment of the Naturalisation laws formed the subject of consideration at the last Imperial Conference, and, subsequently, of correspondence with the Dominion Governments, and the proposed Bill has been recast. The draft of the Bill which it is hoped to introduce shortly is now before the Dominion Governments.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that this matter of naturalisation has been before the Imperial Conference since 1887?

It has never been technically before the Imperial Conference. It has never been so effectively before the Imperial Conference as it was last time, and as it will be before us within the next few weeks.