asked the Postmaster-General the number of prosecutions which have taken place in the last 12 months for which he has statistics for attempted swindles in connection with football pools and racecourse betting, respectively, either by means of collusion with officials inside the Post Office or by tampering with letters carrying misleading postal marks?

During the year 1937 the Post Office undertook the prosecution of 27 Post Office servants and 16 outside persons in connection with betting frauds. Seven of the prosecutions were in respect of football pools, nine in respect of racing pools and 27 in respect of betting on horse-races. In addition, the Post Office was concerned in 14 prosecutions for fraudulent betting undertaken by commission agents against outside persons. Ten of them were in respect of football pools, one in respect of racing pools and three in respect of betting on horse-races.

asked the Postmaster-General whether all district nursing associations are charged the business rate of hire for their telephones; and, if so, whether he will consider the question of charging them the lower private telephone rate?

Telephones rented by associations and listed in their names in the telephone directory are charged at the business rate. A telephone in the house of a nurse is charged at the residence rate, provided that nursing is not carried on in the premises and that the telephone directory entry makes no reference to the subscriber's profession. I regret that I am unable to make a further concession. I could not discriminate between one class of telephone subscriber and another.

Would the Postmaster-General not consider the question? I understand from the reply that if it is in the name of the association the telephone would have to be paid for at a higher rate. Surely it is not asking too much that it should be treated as a private telephone, in view of the very few calls that are put through?

My right hon. Friend the Postmaster-General has given very careful consideration to these matters, because he is very sympathetic towards charitable institutions; but there are difficulties in discriminating between what is a charitable institution and what is not.

asked the Postmaster-General when the mail contract with Messrs. David MacBrayne, Limited, expires, and whether it will be submitted to the House for renewal?

The contract is terminable on 31st October, 1938, subject to six months' notice being given. Any new contract which will be entered into will be submitted to the House.

Are there any conditions as to labour standards in the existing contracts, and, if not, will the Minister consider the inclusion of such conditions in any new contracts?

All these matters are being taken into consideration in connection with new contracts, but, under a Standing Order of this House, no contract can be accepted until it has received the approval of this House.

asked the Postmaster-General how long air-mail letters are scheduled to take between London and Nairobi; what proportion of letters did travel up to scheduled time during December and January last; and what was the maximum time taken by any letter during these two months?

The scheduled time of air transmission between Southampton and Nairobi, via the trunk route to Kisumu and thence by the feeder air service, is five days. During the months of December and January there were 26 outward flights, of which 21 were operated to schedule, three arrived within 24 hours of schedule and two arrived more than 24 hours late. The maximum air transmission time between Southampton and Nairobi on any one outward flight during the period was seven days.