asked the Under-Secretary of State for Air what arrangements are planned during the current year for the better development of obtaining and supplying stratospheric meteorological information in connection with the main Empire air routes.

The air terminals in the United Kingdom are already given more detailed information about meteorological conditions at high altitudes than is available anywhere else in the world. There are at present nine stations on the Empire air routes making regular observations up to a height of 60,000 feet, which are analysed and published by a special branch of the Meteorological Office. It is hoped that during 1952 several more stations will be set up along these routes.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Air if, in view of the Government's decision to secure the utmost possible production of grain for this year's harvest, he will now authorise the continued cultivation of 200 acres between the runways on Welford Aerodrome, Berkshire, and give general instructions that all land held by the Air Ministry which can be spared for cropping shall immediately be offered to local farmers.

It is already the policy of the Air Ministry to make as much land as possible available for food production, and my noble Friend is at present seeking ways and means of increasing the yield. The airfield at Welford, however, is to be used as a storage depot, and it is planned to start preparing the site early this summer. This will, I am afraid, make it physically impossible for farmers to cultivate any of the land there.

If this airfield at Welford is only to be used for storage, is there any reason why the ground between the runways should not be cropped for the 1952 harvest?

The airfield will be used as an ammunition depot. Railway lines are being laid down criss-cross and concrete traverses are being put down. I do not think that the hon. Gentleman's suggestion is possible.

Will the Minister see if he can find a few acres instead of sterilising the whole of the airfield?

I am in sympathy with my hon. Friend's suggestion and will do what I can.

Can the Minister make sure that such acres as are not covered by works will at least be kept clean so that they will not distribute weeds over good agricultural land?

I will take note of that suggestion.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Air if he is aware of the wastage of manpower, machine tools and building materials, at No. 30 Maintenance Unit, Royal Air Force, near Market Drayton; and if he will take action to secure more economical employment of resources at this station.

I take it that the hon. Member has in mind the building being done at the unit. I will certainly look into any evidence of waste which the hon. Member sends me, but I should like to make it clear that this work is being done under a contract which was let after competitive tender. It is in the interest of the contractor to avoid waste.

Is the Minister really satisfied that the carrying out of this £80,000 contract is being properly supervised? Is he aware, for example, of the allegation of the burning of large quantities of linoleum and of men being kept idle for weeks? Will he cause his Department to make a strenuous investigation?

I am obliged to the hon. Gentleman for raising this matter. I am not altogether satisfied with what is going on, and I noticed with interest the interview which the hon. Gentleman gave to a local paper on the subject. I also think that this scale of building work is very big. On the other hand, that was done by His late Majesty's advisers, and not by the present Government.

Is my hon. Friend aware that there are many complaints from other depots in Staffordshire with regard to the wastage that is going on, and will he not ask his officers to make a special investigation into this matter, which is causing great public anxiety?

I am aware that there are a number of complaints, and the matter is under investigation.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Air why 2537878 A.C.2 Stanley Bewick, Royal Air Force, Credenhill, Hereford, with only eight weeks' National Service, and only five weeks' actual training, one of the youngest with the least training was selected against his own personal wishes when interrogated, and was given embarkation leave and informed he was to be posted to the Middle East.

This airman is over 18 years and 3 months of age and has completed more than 12 weeks' service. As the hon. Member has already been informed by my noble Friend, he is therefore eligible for posting to the Middle East in accordance with the rules announced in this House in December, 1950.

Is the Minister aware that the parents of this boy are very much disturbed about what has happened? Is he not aware that, when we permit these boys to be conscripted for two years, we expect that they will receive a fair crack of the whip, and that, when men are selected to go out to the Middle East, the parents of these boys expect that those with the longest service and training will be taken?

Will the Minister say what is the basis on which the selection is made, because my information indicates that the methods of selection are unsatisfactory and do not take due consideration of all the factors concerning each individual?

I am aware that parents are naturally very often unhappy when their sons are posted abroad. On the other hand, men join the Royal Air Force or are called up to it in order to serve their Queen and country, and the exigencies of the Services must have first call. This man was eligible to go, and a great many other men of the same age have gone and are going. There were no compassionate grounds for taking him off the draft.

Is it not the fact that in the same district there are many other men who are older and have had more training than this particular boy?

Obviously, we cannot arrange that all the young men should stay at home and all the older men should be sent abroad, because in that case we would not get personnel sorted out in the right order and categories.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs the nature of the request he has received from the Burmese Government for assistance in removing the Kuomintang troops from Burmese soil; and what action he proposes to take.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what action he has taken, following the official representations which have been made to him from the Government of Burma, in regard to the presence of Chinese Nationalist troops on its territory; and the despatch of arms from Formosa to these troops.

We have received no request or representations on this question from the Burmese Government.

As for the action which Her Majesty's Government propose, I would refer the hon. Members to the statement which my right hon. Friend made in his speech in this House on 5th February.

Will the Minister bear in mind that there is very little point in sending a U.N.O. Commission to Burma, because, first of all, the area in which these troops are situated is very inaccessible, and, secondly, there is no dispute whatever that there are Nationalist forces in Burma, which fact could not be established any more exactly than is now admitted; and that the solution of this matter is for the Nationalist troops to be removed, and that what is required is pressure from the Government of this country and the Government of the United States on the Nationalist authorities of Formosa to have the troops removed?

It is not for me to anticipate the answer which we shall, no doubt, in due course receive from the Burma Government on this matter. My right hon. Friend made it quite plain that, provided it was generally acceptable and that the Burma Government thought it was a good idea, we should participate and help in a fact-finding Commission.

May I ask the hon. Gentleman, whatever the technical character of any conversations which have taken place, whether it is not a fact that the leader of the Burmese Delegation in the First Political Committee of the United Nations, on 28th January, said that Kuomintang aggression was taking place in Burma and made a direct appeal to the British Government for action?

I have nothing to add to the answer I have given to the hon. Gentleman, which is to the effect that we have had no request or representations on this question from the Burma Government.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he is now able to make a statement as to the setting up of a fund for former Far Eastern prisoners of war or their dependants under the Treaty of Peace with Japan.

No, Sir. No funds will be available to the International Committee of the Red Cross under Article 16 of the Japanese Peace Treaty until the Peace Treaty has come into force and Japan has transferred her assets in neutral and ex-enemy countries and in Germany and Austria to that Committee.

Japanese assets in the United Kingdom will likewise not become the property of Her Majesty's Government, under Article 14 of the Japanese Peace Treaty, until the Japanese Peace Treaty has come into force.

May we have an assurance that the Government will do all they possibly can to expedite the implementation of this scheme, and that it will not be held up unduly by legal discussions?

There will certainly be no delay as far as the Government are concerned, but it is, of course, a matter for other States to ratify the Japanese Peace Treaty before it can come into force.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if his Department is still pursuing its inquiries into the unexplained disappearance of two members of its staff, namely Messrs. Burgess and Maclean; and what indications the evidence already in his possession regarding their movements gives as to their intended destination.

The investigation into the disappearance of Messrs. Maclean and Burgess is not yet closed. The only firm information about their movements so far obtained is that they disembarked at St. Malo on 26th May last, which, however, provides no real indication as to their destination.

Does not the existing information suggest that these men, like all fellow-travellers, were looking to the East?

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will consider taking steps similar to those taken by the United States Government on behalf of their nationals in order to obtain the release of Mr. Edgar Sanders from his imprisonment in Hungary.

Her Majesty's Government will not neglect any practicable steps that may be open to them to secure Mr. Sanders' release, which they continue to regard as a major question affecting Anglo-Hungarian relations. But the release of the American citizen, Mr. Vogeler, was obtained in return for certain concessions by the United States Government which Her Majesty's Government have never been in a position to offer.

Will the Minister keep in mind the fact that the position at the present time is certainly most embarrassing, so far as this country is concerned, and that it places us in a position of apparent humiliation? Will he give the House a description of the concession which the Hungarians obtained from the United States of America and which we ourselves cannot give?

The main concession which the United States were able to offer in order to get Mr. Vogeler released consisted of the re-opening of the Hungarian Consulates in New York, and I think Cleveland, Ohio. These had previously been closed in January, 1950, in retaliation for the treatment of Mr. Vogeler by the Hungarian authorities, but there are, and have been, no Hungarian Consulates in this country which could be re-opened in return for a similar concession.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what is the agenda for the meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Council in Lisbon this month.

The detailed agenda for the Council meeting will be decided by the Ministers concerned at the outset of the meeting, and it would not be proper for me to anticipate their decision. My right hon. Friend gave the House on 5th February a forecast of the principal matters which would be discussed, and which are likely to include the reorganisation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation machinery, the report of the Temporary Council Committee and the report of the Paris Conference on a European Defence Community.

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that contrary to the desires of other members of N.A.T.O., the United States Government are pressing ahead with these negotiations with the Franco Government for military air and naval facilities in Spain without any assurance of the restoration of elementary freedom in that country, and would Her Majesty's Government take steps to see that this matter is put on the agenda at the Lisbon Conference?

That is a very much wider question. I am dealing with the agenda so far as it has been decided. I should like notice of the hon. Lady's supplementary question.

Will the hon. Gentleman bear in mind the extreme undesirability of entering into military relationship with Spain at the moment, especially in view of the execution of nine political prisoners there in the last few days? Will he give the House a firm assurance that the British Government do not approve of that kind of thing?

It has, I think, been frequently stated in this House that the British Government are not in favour of the inclusion of Spain in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.

Does not the hon. Gentleman think that the question of the association of any of the Powers in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation with the Franco Government is a matter for consideration by all the 12 Powers in that Organisation? Will he not, therefore, make efforts to see that this matter is put on the agenda as soon as possible and press it even more urgently in view of the atrocities which have been taking place in Spain during the last few days where innocent men have been sent to their death for political crimes?

Answer.

In view of the complete callousness of the Government in this matter, give notice that I will do my best to raise it on the Adjournment.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs how many British officials dismissed by the Egyptian Government have now returned to this country; and how many have secured alternative employment.

Since former British employees in Egypt are private persons, they do not necessarily notify Her Majesty's Government of their arrival in this country nor of arrangements they may make for alternative employment. I cannot therefore provide the figures requested. Her Majesty's Government have, however, made arrangements to interview those who ask for assistance in obtaining employment, and are, as has already been stated in the House, doing their best to help. These arrangements are under the general control of my right hon. Friend the Minister of Labour.

Would not the hon. Gentleman agree that we have a responsibility towards these officials, and that this information ought to be in the hands of the Government?

I certainly admit that we have a responsibility towards these officials, but I thought I explained in my answer that we cannot be informed as to who of these individuals, who are private persons, have come back and when?

Can my hon. Friend say how many of these former officials have returned to this country and are suffering in this way?

So far as I am aware we have not yet been notified of any who require the assistance to which I referred in my answer, but should we be so informed we shall take active steps to see that they are assisted.

Is my hon. Friend aware that the secretary of the association of these people resides in the constituency of the Minister of Labour, and will he therefore make inquiries of that Minister?

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if consideration of the recommendations of the Nigerian Livestock Mission has now been completed; and if he will state the decisions reached in agreement with the Nigerian Government.

I have not yet received a considered statement of their views on this matter from the Nigerian Government, who have been heavily engaged with the recent constitutional changes. I do not expect to receive them for some time. The problems involved are so large that some delay must, I fear, be condoned.