asked the Postmaster-General if he is yet in a position to make any further statement in regard to the intentions of the Department respecting the firm of Douglas Brothers, Kingswood, Bristol?

The investigation which is being made is not yet completed, and I am unable to make any statement at this stage; but I will let the hon. Member know the result as soon as possible.

asked the Postmaster-General whether, in view of the fact that the bulk of the British export trade with Northern Persia is carried on by parcel post, he will take steps to reduce the cost of postage involved by instituting a cheaper parcel post service by way of Liverpool and Batoum to Northern Persia in place of the present service via Julfa, whence the Persian post office forwards to Tabriz, at a rate of not less than £8 per ton, making the total cost from England to Tabriz about £50 a ton, a rate which effectually strangles British in competition with Russian trade?

In the absence of a parcel post agreement between this country and Russia, the parcel post with North Persia can only be conducted through the intermediary of some third administration having agreements both with this country and with Russia. The present service is carried on under the agreement between the United Kingdom and Germany, all parcels being forwarded to Germany for onward transmission by such routes as Germany employs for her own service. Negotiations for an agreement with Russia have been in progress for some time past, and, in the event of their successful issue, it would probably be possible to set up a parcel post by way of Liverpool and Batoum. I fear, however, that such a service would serve no useful purpose. Apart from the consideration that it would necessarily be very slow and infrequent, as compared with the present daily service by the overland route, the postage on a parcel of the maximum weight (11 lbs.) sent by the suggested route would be actually higher than that on a similar parcel sent by the existing service.

Does the right hon. Gentleman realise that the present route is strangling British trade in competition with Russian trade?

If that is so the route suggested would strangle it more.

Why does the right hon. Gentleman say that, when it would be very much cheaper?

I have examined figures, and I think it would be very much dearer.

asked the Postmaster-General whether be can now say when the telephone exchange, promised nearly a year ago, for Staveley, Yorkshire, will be ready for use?

The promise to open an exchange at Staveley, provided that a certain amount of support is forthcoming, was made last January. I am ascertaining if this condition has now been met, and, if it has, the work will be put in hand at once.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the Post Office promised the exchange if a certain sum were guaranteed, and that that sum was guaranteed, and that there was a promise that it would be put up within six months?

I state in my answer, "I am ascertaining if this condition has been met, and, if it has, the work will be put in hand at once."

asked the Postmaster-General the result of his inquiry concerning the wages and rent of the postmistress at Weyhill, near Andover; whether the increased wages were swallowed up by the increased rent; and, if so, what he proposes to do in the matter?

The rent paid by sub-postmistress to her landlord has, I understand, been increased, but it is stated that this increase is not connected with the increase of the post office work. The sub-postmistress enjoys a special allowance of between £4 and £5 in aid of rent, which is not warranted by the Regulations generally applied in such cases, but which, nevertheless, it is not proposed to withdraw. She may receive a further increase of remuneration when the recommendations of the recent Parliamentary Committee are applied at her office next November, and the increase, if any, will take effect as from the 2nd February last.

Is it any less hard on the postmistress to have the rent raised if it is done by the landlord than if it is done by the Government?

I do not say it is.

asked the Postmaster-General if he will give a list of Civil servants' associations and societies recognised by his Department?

As there are over fifty recognised associations and societies of postal servants, it will doubtless be more convenient to the hon. and gallant Member if I send him a list by post.

asked the Postmaster-General whether he is aware that certain members of the unestablished staff in the Central Telegraph Office, who for many years enjoyed annual leave of twenty-one working days, have now been informed that they are to have only eighteen working days' leave; whether he is aware that the annual leave of these persons was not dealt with by the Holt Committee; whether the recommendation of that Committee to grant eighteen working days' leave to the unestablished staff had reference only to those members of that staff who hitherto had been receiving fourteen days' annual leave; and whether he will direct that the annual leave of twenty-one days shall be maintained to those who have for so long been entitled to it?

The recent Select Committee recommended for unestablished telegraphists in the Central Telegraph Office increases of pay amounting at the maximum to 15s. a week for men and 7s. a week for women. They also recommended that the annual leave of these officers should be twelve days for the first five years of service and eighteen days thereafter. In view of the increase in wages granted, I think it is reasonable that all the officers concerned should accept the amount of leave now proper to their class, including those who have been receiving twenty-one days' annual leave. The recommendation of the Committee contained no such limitation as the hon. Member suggests.

Can this question be dealt with by the Committee which is now sitting?

Yes, I think so.

asked the Postmaster-General whether he is aware that the Holt Committee recommended in the case of ex-military telegraphists that, after three years' established service and upon passing the efficiency bar test, they should receive the pay appropriate to the sixth point in the scale above the age pay for twenty-one; whether he is aware that his Department has issued instructions that these men must remain at this point on the scale for a number of years, thereby vitiating the spirit of the recommendations of that Committee; whether he is aware that no intimation was given to the ex-military telegraphists to prepare for this efficiency bar test, as is done in the case of the civil telegraphists, with the result that many of them have been denied the benefit of increased pay for some months; and whether he will see that the pledge given to this House that he would interpret the recommendations in a generous spirit be fulfilled?

After considering the recommendation of the Holt Committee in consultation with the Treasury it was decided that ex-military telegraphists whose pay was specially raised to the sixth point on the scale above the age pay for twenty-one should mark time at that point until they would have been entitled to an increase if they had proceeded by the normal increments of the scale. The general notification to the staff at the time the recommendations of the Committee were adopted made it clear under what conditions the benefit of the increased pay would be given.

Does the right hon. Gentleman consider it fair that when these men reach the point stated in the question they should have to wait three years before they get another increment?

The same remark applies to this as to the last question. It can be brought up before the Advisory Committee.

asked the Postmaster-General what the income and expenditure on mails to Gairloch, Ross-shire, is, and the same as to Ullapool, Ross-shire; whether a motor mail service has been introduced on the Carve to Ullapool service and a like improvement refused to the Gairloch district; when does the present contract to carry mails from Achnasheen to Gairloch expire; whether it is possible to contract for a motor mail service to Gairloch without any additional expenditure; and whether, in view of the distance that Gairloch parish is from a railway station and of the discontent with the present arrangements, he will reconsider his decision and grant the prayer of the petition sent to him by the ratepayers of Gairloch, Ross-shire?

I am having inquiry made in the matter, and I will communicate with the hon. Member.

asked the Home Secretary whether he will make inquiries into the working of the Workmen's Compensation Act in West Wales generally, and the town of Gorseinon in particular; and whether he will ask for a return of the accidents that have occurred at the Swansea navigation Company's colliery thereat for the last two years, and the number of compensation cases arising therefrom, the amounts claimed, the amounts paid, and the number of cases suspended, the periods of such suspension, and the present number of disabled persons who are not in receipt of compensation who are claiming the same?

I have no evidence before me pointing to the need of a special inquiry in West Wales, but as my hon. Friend is no doubt aware a general inquiry into the working of the Act is to be instituted very shortly, and the Committee which will be appointed for the purpose will have full power to go into any questions that may have arisen in this district. I do not think I have any power to call for such a Return as suggested in the question.

asked the Home Secretary (1) how long Harry Humphries was in prison before he was removed to Bucks County Lunatic Asylum; how many times he was forcibly fed while in prison; how many other prisoners have recently been sent to lunatic asylums as a result of hunger striking; (2) whether he can state the names of the magistrates and of the two registered medical practitioners who certified Harry Humphries as insane; whether they each personally examined him and, if so, upon what dates; and (3) whether he will state what particular form of insanity Harry Humphries has been certified as suffering from; whether he has been examined by any doctors since his admission to the Bucks County Lunatic Asylum; and, if so, by how many; and whether he can state the nature of their report upon his mental condition?

Harry Humphries had been ten months in prison before he was certified insane. He had been forcibly fed from 4th June to 23rd July, 1913, when he resumed taking food naturally, and again from 26th February to 23rd March, 1914, when he was removed to the asylum. I am unable to say how many other cases have recently occurred in which a prisoner has been certified insane when refusal of food has been one of the symptoms. I do not think any useful purpose would be served by the publication of the names of the magistrates and medical practitioners who signed the certificate in this case. They had all personally examined the prisoner —the magistrates on the day of certification and the doctors on that day and on many previous occasions. The certificate in the form prescribed under the Criminal Lunatics Act, 1884, does not give particulars of the form of insanity from which the patient is suffering. Since Humphries' admission to the Bucks County Asylum he has, of course, been under the care of the medical staff. I am now in communication with the superintendent, and as soon as he is in a position to give a certificate that Humphries is sane the question of remitting him to prison will be considered.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that this man has been examined by two doctors in the asylum, one of whom was Sir Victor Horsley, and both state that they have been unable to find a single trace of insanity?

I should doubt whether a casual examination would be satisfactory. On the other hand, as I told the Noble Lord, the superintendent, who has full responsibility in the matter, informs me that the question of transferring Humphries to prison will be considered.

Has he, as a matter of fact, already done so?

Did not the right hon. Gentleman tell me that no doctors at all examined him?

No. I told the hon. Gentleman that two doctors and two magistrates had signed the certificate.

Is it not a fact that the medical superintendent in this asylum has already informed the right hon. Gentleman that, in his opinion, this man is not insane?

Not so far as I am aware.

asked the Secretary for Scotland if he is yet in a position to make any statement as to the conditions of life on the Drumtogh fruit farm, Auchterarder; and if he is aware that the firm of Keay and Hodge have discharged Robert Nicholl, one of the employés on the farm, for giving information about them?

The Local Government Board for Scotland have made inquiries into this matter and have received a report from the medical officer of health for the Central District of Perthshire which does not bear out the statements in my hon. Friend's question of Monday last. The report is too detailed to quote, but I shall be pleased to show it to my hon. Friend. The answer to the last part of the question is in the negative.

asked whether, in the cases of foreigners convicted of illegal trawling in the Moray Firth, the fines have been paid or the term of imprisonment served?

I would refer the hon. and gallant Member to Appendix K, pages 167 and 168, of the Annual Report of the Fishery Board for the year 1913 (Cd. 7399), from which he will observe that in the case of each such conviction in. 1913 the fine was paid.

asked the Secretary for Scotland whether he can say when the results of the leaving certificate examinations are to be announced; whether he is aware that the holidays have been entered upon without their being announced; and whether in future the date of the examination will be adjusted to enable the result to be announced prior to the holidays?

The results (in whole or in part) of the leaving certificate examination have been issued for upwards of 250 schools and further results are being intimated daily. The Department regret that in many cases it has not been possible, consistently with a proper consideration of the candidates' claims, to determine the results before the commencement of the holidays. But they are satisfied that the suggested alternative of an earlier date for the written portion of the examination is not one that would commend itself to school authorities generally.

Is my right hon. Friend aware that without the information many of the candidates for bursaries cannot make their applications, and will he therefore expedite the remaining results?

That is so; but I think my hon. Friend is aware that more than the results of the examination have to be considered.

I beg to ask the Home Secretary a question, of which I have given him private notice, namely: Whether the fact that a contract entered into by the London General Omnibus Company to display a poster appealing to the public to support law-abiding suffragists by joining the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies is not being executed is due to intervention on the part of the authorities of Scotland Yard; and, if so, will he state the reasons for this intervention, and what authority they possess for taking such action?

By an Order made under the Metropolitan Carriage Act, 1869, the display of advertisements in public carriages is subject to the approval of the Commissioner of Police. It has long been the practice of the Commissioner to forbid for public reasons the display of advertisements of a political character, and as the advertisement proposed to be issued by the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies came within this category, it did not receive the approval of the Commissioner. I may add that the Commissioner's notice has only recently been called to the fact that an advertisement issued by the Women's Social and Political Union is being displayed in omnibuses, and he is now taking action in the matter.

I beg to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer a question of which I have given private notice—

I have not received it.

I sent it to the Treasury. I dare say the right bon. Gentleman will be able to answer it, as it is quite a simple question. [HON. MEMBERS: "No!"] If he would rather not—

If the notice sent by the hon. Member has not reached the Chancellor of the Exchequer I do not think he ought to put the question,

I was at the Treasury until half-past one, and I had not received the notice.

It was sent down, and a copy went to the Speaker at the same time.