asked the Minister of Food what items of food and confectionery have been reduced in price, at the nearest convenient date, by comparison with the year 1947; and by how much such retail prices have fallen.

I assume that my hon. Friend is referring to foods for which there is a controlled maximum price. The following is the list:

asked the Minister of Food why it is permissible to send a food parcel to Germany containing 4 lb. of rationed goods and 2 lb. of unrationed goods, but not permissible to send a parcel containing 2 lb. of rationed goods and 1 lb. of unrationed goods.

The amount of unrationed foods sent abroad in this way has to be limited in the interests of this country. Four lb. rationed food calls for a bigger personal sacrifice on the part of the sender and therefore provides a greater check on the quantities of unrationed foods sent.

asked the Minister of Food whether the regulations governing the sending of food parcels to Germany are available to the general public.

Yes. Full information is available at every food and post office.

asked the Postmaster-General what progress is being made for the provision of a sub-post office to meet the long-standing and genuine needs of the residents of the Ralston district of East Renfrewshire.

I much regret that it is still not possible to re-open the Ralston sub-post office owing to the continued lack of a suitable applicant for the vacant sub-postmastership. However, I am hopeful that it will be possible reasonably soon to open a sub-post office near to the site of the former Cardonald sub-post office when the facilities for transaction of Post Office business by the Ralston residents will be materially improved.

asked the Postmaster-General if he has any information with regard to the number of parcels being sent from Bicester post office to Germany by displaced persons; and how many of these are goods which have been imported into this country at the expense of dollars.

No separate record is kept of such parcels and I am not therefore in a position to furnish particulars of their numbers or contents.

asked the Minister of Labour if he will give the total number of miners unemployed and signing the register in the Lanarkshire coalfield; the total number of miners in this category who have been certified as physically unfit; the total number of miners in the first category who are available for and capable of work; and the number of ex-miners signing in Lanarkshire who are desirous of re-entering the mining industry, respectively.

At 14th March there were 847 men registered as unemployed in Lanarkshire, whose last employment was in the coalmining industry. Of these 488 have been found to be medically unfit for further employment in that industry. I regret that the other details asked for in the Question are not available.