asked the Prime Minister whether he can state the amount of subsidy which has been paid, either by means of purchasing space or otherwise, to papers in the United Kingdom, and also to papers outside the United Kingdom?

The answer is in the negative. So far as I am aware, no subsidies are being paid. Government advertisements are, of course, paid for.

asked the Prime Minister if he will state the name of the Department which has control of banking and banking amalgamation; and, if no Department exists, will he consider the question of setting up a new Department?

Questions relating to general banking policy are dealt with by the Treasury, which has recently appointed a Committee to consider bank amalgamations.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) whether he is aware that numbers of military officers are performing similar duties to and sharing offices with Civil Service officers in the various Departments; and, if so, whether he will consider the necessity of granting military commissions to all of the latter who are heads of families and in receipt of equal rates of pay, with a view to bring their children within the scope of similar benefits; (2) whether he can state approximately the number of officers holding commissions in the Civil Service with families in receipt of salaries of £200 and less, and the number of those receiving from £200 to £300, including war bonus, giving in both cases the average number of children which presumably they have to support out of these rates, within the age limit now made, for the purpose of granting allowances to the officers holding commissions in the military service; and (3) whether the fixed rates of pay of all officers of the Civil Service up to the rank equivalent in the military service to that of captain were based, prior to the rise in prices equivalent to 100 per cent., upon a scale at all adequate to support their children; and have these rates, since this rise in prices, been so modified as to permit of these officers affording their children the necessaries of life, together with an education as befits the needs of their rank, now granted to the officers of the military service upon service at home or abroad?

It would be quite misleading to attempt a comparison such as the hon. Member suggests between the position of military and civilian officers having regard to the different basis on which their remuneration is and must be fixed. While military officers have received a special children's allowance, civilian officers have been granted a war bonus to cover the increased cost of living generally; and I do not think that on the average the civilian rates of pay compare unfavourably with those of military officers.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury if he is aware that the trustees of the National Portrait Gallery purpose commemorating, by a series of permanent photographs, the features of distinguished living contemporaries of British nationality, including all persons, naval, military or civilian, who, during the War, have rendered service to their country by their valour or by the promotion of the Empire welfare; whether he is aware that for this purpose the trustees have given one firm of photographers a monopoly; and whether, in view of the national character of the proposed memorial, the trustees will consider the desirability of including photographs other than those to be taken by the firm so chosen?

The answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative; to the second, that the employment of a particular firm for this purpose is not a monoply, since photographs by other photographers are accepted under certain conditions; and to the third, that the trustees have always accepted photographs taken by any photographer of persons living or deceased who have the slightest claim to distinction in any sphere of life. In no circumstances are photographs taken from life exhibited in the Galleries; they are acquired solely for reference purposes.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury whether it has been decided to release for military service all clerks to surveyors of taxes of military fitness up to twenty-eight years of age, while at the same time all surveyors and assistant surveyors, irrespective of age or fitness or length of service, are to be retained; whether he is aware that many of the clerks who are to be released have had longer service than some of the surveyors and assistant surveyors, and have more knowledge of the work; and whether he will reconsider this matter with a view to taking into account only age, length of service, and military fitness, and making no differentiation between one grade and another?

I may refer the right hon. Gentleman to the reply which I gave to a question on this subject by the hon. and gallant Member for Reading on 4th instant. I am sending him a copy of the reply.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether in fixing the profits of the retailers of national-control tea, the multiple shops are to receive 4½d. for each pound sold and the retail or small grocers are to receive only 2d.; and, if so, whether he can see his way to rectify this unequal treatment and make an arrangement fair to all?

The comparative profits are not as stated in the first part of the hon. Member's question. The multiple shop companies that buy tea on the market will receive 4½. a pound, ½d. being for expenses incidental to purchase on the market and the remaining 4d. gross retail profit, which must cover the cost of blending and packing, estimated at2d. a pound. The retailer who does not buy on the market will not receive the ½d. for expenses incidental to such buying, but if he does his own blending and packing he will receive the same gross retail profit as the multiple shop, namely, 4d. a pound. If the blending is done for the retailer by the wholesaler from whom he buys the retailer's profit will be reduced by ½d. a pound, the cost of blending. If both blending and packing arc done by the wholesaler the retailer's profit will be reduced by 2d. a pound, the cost of blending and packing. It will be seen. therefore, that there is no inequality of treatment.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether the Wholesale Meat Supply Association has been subsidised by the Government under the Meat Control Order, 1917; and, if so, to what amount?

No, Sir. The Wholesale Meat Supply Associations have not been subsidised by the Government. They are secured against any loss or expenses incurred by them, only while acting in their capacity as distributing agencies on behalf of the Ministry of Food.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether in view of his statement that if eggs are acquired for preserving in water-glass the quantity preserved must be limited to the ordinary and proper re- quirements of the preserver's household, he will state the approximate number per head for each household that would be permitted; and whether, in view of the fact that eggs have to be preserved in this way in quantities, and that a considerable outlay is necessary, he would consider two per head per week a reasonable amount, or, say, 100 per head of household for twelve months in advance?

The number of eggs which may properly be bought and preserved in each particular case is a question for the Courts to determine, and as at present advised, I am not prepared to express any opinion on the matter.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food if he will state, for the guidance of the public, what is the present position with regard to the preservation of wild birds in Ireland, and the repeal of the Wild Birds Preservation Acts?

The common and statutory law for the preservation of wild birds in Ireland is still in force, except that the Department of Agriculture have power, under the Defence of the Realm Regulations, to take action for the destruction of birds with a view to the protection of crops, and in the case of migratory wild birds for improving the food supply of the country.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food if he will consent to permit retail grocers with whom fifty-six or even twenty-eight customers have registered themselves for their margarine supply to continue to have their necessary quantities of margarine, sugar, and other controlled foods?

Food control committees have full power to permit retail grocers to continue in business as registered retailers of margarine, however small the number of customers who have registered with them. No proposal for the general restriction of supplies of other foodstuffs to such retail grocers has been made.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether, in case three or more farmers bring together such a quantity of potatoes as shall make four tons and sell that quantity at a price below £6 per ton, the Government will make up the difference in price to each individual farmer, although his particular quantity sold is under four tons?

I have been asked to reply to this question. The answer is in the negative.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that through the action of Army agents a large number of cases, estimated to contain about 5,000 rabbits, have become unfit for human food in a cold storage at Chesterfield (Midland) Goods Station; and what action he proposes to take with reference to the matter?

My attention has been drawn to a statement in the Press to this effect, but, so far as my information goes, the Army authorities were in no way responsible for any loss there may have been. I am, however, having full inquiries made with a view to clearing the matter up, and I will communicate with my hon. Friend later.

asked the Pensions Minister why the application of Mrs. Bridget Liscombe for a grant from the War Pensions Committee of the City of Dublin for the benefit of the children of Private John Naylor, No. 14578, Royal Dublin Fusiliers, was not entertained by the committee, in face of the facts that the children lost their father and mother within a few days, the father being killed whilst on active service and the mother being shot on the streets of Dublin during the rebellion, and the sum of £10 only being paid by the Rebellion Victims' Committee by reason of her death?

The Dublin War Pensions Committee would have no power to make a grant in the circumstances of this case. Under the Royal Warrant motherless children are awarded pension on a higher scale than children whose mothers are living, the amount payable for three children in one family being 18s. a week. This weekly sum is, in fact, being paid to Mrs. Liscombe as the guardian of Private Naylor's children. An application for a grant from certain voluntary funds at my disposal was forwarded by the Dublin Committee, but in view of the circumstances, and of the fact that proposals to increase the rates of pension for motherless children are now under consideration, the trustees of the fund were unable to entertain it.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland if he will see that the women employed as cleaners in the Irish Land Commission offices are paid the war bonus that is paid in all other Government offices for similar work?

These cleaners are employed for part of their time only. The war bonus paid to them is fixed with regard to that fact.

asked the Financial Secretary to the War Office whether he is aware that the Army pay clerks employed at the Army Service Corps (Mechanical Transport) Pay Office, Woolwich, who are on the family allowance are in receipt of a lesser rate than the Army Service Corps clerks employed in the Records Office under similar conditions; whether he will consider the possibility of paying the former men under the same Regulation as the latter and thus secure a uniform rate; and whether he will also consider the advisability of making some increase in the ration allowances commensurate with the increased cost of living?

I understand that the clerks in these two offices are now drawing allowances at identical rates. My right hon. Friend may rest assured that the question of the adequacy of ration allowances is kept under continuous review at the War Office.

asked the President of the Board of Trade (1) whether he has received a copy of the resolution passed unanimously by the Leitrim County Council at their quarterly meeting held on the 20th February last requesting the Government to confer powers, under the Defence of the Realm Act, on the Irish Exploration and Development Company, Limited, to acquire the necessary lands for the construction of the Central Ireland Railways on the lines of the application made to the Chief Secretary for Ireland dated the 24th April, 1917; and whether, in view of the fact that the granting of such powers would cost the Government nothing, and would facilitate the development of an important mineral area containing coal and iron ore needed by the public, and that the development of the coal would save shipping needed by the Government at present, he will retard the granting of these powers any longer; and (2) if he is aware that the proposed extension of three miles of the Cavan and Leitrim Railway, for which the necessary permit is supposed to have been given, is looked upon with disfavour by the people of county Leitrim, especially as this extension would only benefit the one company, and would not benefit in anyway the Irish Exploration and Development Company, which is developing the district on modern methods; and will he explain why one company should be favoured to the detriment of the other?

Sanction has been given for the construction as a war measure of a short length of railway to the district of the Arigna Mines after full consideration of the coal supply to be obtained and the practicable means of making it available. No useful purpose would be served by a discussion of the various proposals which were examined. Regard has been had to the public interests rather than to the claims of the individual applicants.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that the capital for the scheme known as the Central Ireland Railways is available if the necessary powers are granted, and that the rails there for are offered by several large firms in America through the influence of the Government at Washington, and that the Irish Exploration and Development Company have given an undertaking to proceed only with so much of the railways as are absolutely necessary for the delivery of coal to the different districts until after the War, and that under this scheme the liability of the ratepayers of the guaranteeing areas of Leitrim would not exceed 6d. in the £ and be wiped out altogether in twenty-five years; in view of the fact that this proposed system of railway would connect up with the principal railway systems of the country, will he grant the necessary powers under the Defence of the Realm Act as quickly as possible; and is he aware that the scheme has the support of the county councils of Leitrim, Cavan, Roscommon, Sligo, and Donegal?

The Chief Secretary has no reason to suppose that capital is available as is suggested, or that under the present conditions in regard to the provision of labour and materials for railway works, it would be practicable to do what the hon. Member desires.

asked the Postmaster-General whether his attention has been called to the non-arrival of certain mails dispatched from Baghdad to England between the 28th November and the 21st December last; whether such mails have been lost or merely delayed; and whether there is any prospect of their delivery now?

The mails from Baghdad to which the hon. Member refers were no doubt dispatched from India with the Indian mail, which left Bombay at the end of December. This mail has been seriously delayed, but it is not lost. It is expected within the next few days.

asked the Postmaster-General whether a number of cases of pilfering from the staff cloakrooms in the Dublin Sorting and Telegraph Offices have recently taken place; if so, what steps, if any, have been taken to put a stop to these occurrences; whether he will at once provide proper locker accommodation in order that the apparel of the members of the staff may be adequately protected while they are attending to their official duties; and whether he will favourably consider claims for compensation from those who have lost or may lose their property owing to the failure of the Department to afford adequate protection?

Cases of the loss of private property have been reported at the two offices named, but they have not of late been numerous. Every case is made the subject of inquiry. Owing to the War, the supply of additional long lockers, even if space allowed, is necessarily suspended; but arrangements were made some time ago to supply small lockers to those of the staff for whom long lockers were not available. In two of the most recent cases, long lockers had been provided, but the missing articles had not been placed in them. No reason, so far, has been found for thinking that the losses are due to the acts of outsiders; and, while cases will be considered on their merits, I regret I cannot give any general undertaking to allow compensation in such cases.

asked the Postmaster-General whether he is aware that four supervising officers in the sorting office, Dublin, over sixty years of age, have been retained in the service; whether he is aware that all supervising officers whose health, conduct, and efficiency continued good were superannuated, after attainment of sixty years of age, in the telegraph office at Dublin; and whether he will state specifically the reasons for this differentiation in treatment?

I am aware that four supervising officers in the sorting office, Dublin, are being retained after the age of sixty. This is in accordance with the general policy at the present time, which is being applied to those members of the postal and telegraph staffs alike whose health, conduct, and efficiency remain good. The hon. Member is misinformed as regards the telegraph office at Dublin.

asked the Prime Minister if he has heard of the decision of the Irish Teachers' Central Executive to take a ballot immediately on the question of withdrawing from the schools until such time as their demands are conceded; is he aware that public meetings have been held all over Ireland proclaiming the justice and reasonableness of these claims; and will action be at once taken in this matter?

A proposal for the organisation of a strike of Irish school teachers has been discussed in the newspapers and at numerous public meetings in Ireland. General support has been given to various claims of the teachers. As one of the results of a strike of teachers would be to terminate their employment and discontinue their pay, the Chief. Secretary sincerely hopes so reckless a course will not be taken.