asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury the nature of, and with whom, correspondence is going on with reference to grants given by the Development Commission to the Village Clubs' Association; and whether he is aware that the said association has already decided and intimated that restriction of expenditure involves restriction of operations of the association?

When I stated on the 10th April that correspondence was going on at present about this grant, a letter from the Village Clubs' Association to the Treasury was still unanswered. The reply was sent on the 16th April. The answer to the second part of the question is in the affirmative. I understand, however, that the Development Commissioners, after careful and sympathetic consideration, are of opinion that information and advice as to the formation and carrying on of village clubs can be adequately dealt with by a central office working in conjunction with the friends of the movement throughout the country, and that the efficiency of the organisation will not be endangered by the abolition of the existing staff of salaried organisers.