asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, in view of the necessity of husbanding the financial resources of the country so as to make them available to the utmost for the prosecution of the war, he will consider not only examining departmental expenditure, but also forming a flying financial squad periodically to examine the working of the many new departments which are being established in London and the provinces in order to ensure that they may be operated with the utmost economy?

My hon. Friend will have in mind what I said on this subject yesterday. I shall be replying to the Debate on the Budget to-night, and I shall then be making a further reference to the subject of my hon. Friend's question.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury why the Public Record Office has been closed to research and when it will be reopened?

The most valuable of the records in the Public Record Office are in process of being removed from the building for safe keeping, and special steps are being taken to rearrange and protect the residue. The existing staff are at present fully occupied with the work of removal and protection. In these circumstances a large proportion of the records must remain for the time being unavailable for public inspection, and I am afraid that it is not at present possible to say when the Search Department will be reopened.

Is the right hon. and gallant Gentleman aware that only a very few of the most valuable documents have been removed, and is it not possible that he can give some idea to students when the Record Office will again be opened?

I am afraid I could not give a date.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether he will take steps to see that in all war work for which the Government is responsible the principle of equal pay for men and women doing similar work is operated, thus setting an example to municipalities and private employers where very great discrepancies of pay are reported for similar work performed by men and women, respectively?

There is no intention to modify the existing practice of differentiating in pay between men and women civil servants in the same grade.

Is it not the case that all over the country now women are being brought into employment and are doing work in line with what has been done by men, and that something should be done immediately in order to set an example so that the women get the same wages for the same class of work as the men?

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury what is the amount of money prescribed per week for the billeting of members of the Civil Service housed out of London; and what category of civil servant is included in the scale of charges proposed?

A flat rate payment of 21s. a week to cover lodging and two meals a day is made to persons on whom civil servants are billeted. The rate of payment does not vary with the rank of officer concerned.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury what provision is being made granting pensions on a scale commensurate with their pay to the widows and children of married officials who, having been ordered abroad in the public service, may lose their lives on the high seas as a result of submarine or other enemy action?

The Personal Injuries (Civilians) Scheme, 1939, applies not only to war injuries within the United Kingdom but also to those sustained on the high seas by gainfully occupied persons who are travelling in the course of their business, and Government officials, in common with other gainfully occupied persons, are covered by the scheme. Pre-war civil servants who, as part of their conditions of service, were entitled in the case of injuries on duty to compensation under the Injury Warrant, retain their existing eligibility in that respect.

Can my right hon. and gallant Friend say whether those grants are in ratio to their salaries?

The grants under the Personal Injuries (Civilians) Scheme, 1939, are at a flat rate. The compensation payable under the Injury Warrant, to which I referred in the latter part of my reply, is another matter.