asked the Prime Minister whether, in view of the expression of opinion in this House and the country against the Safeguarding of Industries Act, he will appoint a Committee to investigate and report upon the advisability or otherwise of repealing this Act in the present Session?

The answer is in the negative.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the total amount collected by way of duties under the Safeguarding of Industries Act up to and including the 1st day of December, 1922; and what proportions of the total amount have been collected from goods imported from France, America, Belgium and Germany?

The total amount of duties collected under the Safeguarding of Industries Act up to and including the 1st December, 1922, was £432,575. The detailed information required in the second part of the question is not yet available, but I will communicate it to the hon. Member as soon as possible.

asked the Prime Minister whether, in view of the distress existing in the coal-mining industry, due to the fact that wages are very much below the rate paid in 1914, compared with the purchasing value of money in 1914 and 1922, and that tens of thousands of miners have been unemployed for over 18 months, he will, in the light of these experiences under the system of private ownership and control of the industry, bring in legislation for the nationalisation of the mines and the State ownership of minerals, as recommended by the Coalmining Industry Commission appointed by the late Government?

No, Sir. I am not prepared to adopt the hon. Member's suggestion.

Was not that the suggestion of the Sankey Commission, and not my suggestion; and have not the Government pledged themselves to carry out the Sankey Report?

The hon. Member, I think, is wrong in a matter of detail. What I am answering is his suggestion that something should be done.

Is it not the fact that in the King's Speech in 1920 the Government expressed the intention to nationalise the minerals, was not the right hon. Gentleman a member of the Government at that time, and will he, now that he is the head of the Government, carry out the suggestion that he was prepared to support in 1920?

Is it not the fact that, at the time the Sankey Report was presented to this House, the right hon. Gentleman himself said that it would be carried out both in the letter and in the spirit?

The hon. Member's memory may be pretty good, but it is not good enough. That referred, not to the Report as a whole, but to certain definite recommendations made in it.

Is it a fact that neither in letter nor in spirit have the Government fulfilled the promises made which have already been referred to?

There has been difference of opinion on that subject.

asked the Prime Minister whether he is aware that France and Belgium have already passed legislation giving effect to the draft Convention relating to unemployment indemnity for seamen in case of loss of ship, which was agreed to at the Genoa International Labour Conference in June, 1920, and that the Minister of Labour gave his assent to this Convention; and whether, in these circumstances, he proposes to introduce a Bill giving statutory effect to the Convention?

I have been asked to reply. Bills have, I understand, been prepared in France, Belgium and some other countries on this unemployment indemnity question, but I am not aware that they have been passed. The question of introducing legislation here is being considered by the Board of Trade and the Ministry of Labour.

asked the Prime Minister whether he is aware that the President of the United States has recently appointed a representative of agriculture on the Federal Reserve Board of the United States; and whether he will consider the advisability of introducing legislation to reform the Bank of England so as to give producers and workers a share of representation on the court of directors?

The Bank of England is a private corporation; and I am not prepared to interfere by legislation in its constitution.