I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is aware that on or about the 21st instant a British subject named Klopper was hanged for the crime of high treason at Burghersdorp, in the Cape Colony, and that on or about the same day another British subject named Klasson was sentenced to death and executed at Somerset East, in the same colony, for a similar offence; whether the civil courts of the colony are now open or to what extent their jurisdiction is in abeyance; before what courts and on what dates the above named British subjects were tried, and who were the judges composing the court; what legal assistance, if any, was allowed to the accused, and was the evidence upon which they were convicted that of natives or white men; were the trials held in public, is any report of the proceedings available, and was any appeal from the sentences passed open to the accused; and whether the Indemnity and Special Tribunals Act (No. 6, of 1900), passed by the Cape Parliament last year for the purpose of trying persons accused of treasonable offences, has now expired for the purposes of such trials; if so, before what tribunals fresh cases of a like nature are now tried.

I have no information with regard to the particular cases referred to. The Special Court established by the Cape Act No. 6, of 1900, only has jurisdiction in cases of high treason and all political crimes committed before or within six months after the passing of the Act, that is, up to the 12th of April last, when the jurisdiction of the ordinary courts revived. But although the courts were nominally open they were not able adequately to deal with the grave cases of treason and rebellion which were increasing within their jurisdiction, and on the 22nd of April the following notice was, with the approval of the Cape Ministers, issued by Lord Kitchener.

What was the date of Lord Kitchener's proclamation?

April 22nd.

Eight months after Lord Roberts closed the war.

^* : I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether he can state when and in what terms Lord Kitchener last reported his satisfaction with the number and quality of the mounted troops now in the field in South Africa, and especially as to the quality in riding and shooting, and capacity for employment in the field of the latest levy of Imperial Yeomanry despatched from this country in and after January of the present year, and whether any report from the general officers commanding such mounted forces under Lord Kitchener can be given to the House.

Lord Kitchener, writing privately on 29th March, 12th April, and 26th April, wrote in very favourable terms of the latest levy of Imperial Yeomanry and expressed his opinion that with a little experience in the field they would prove most useful troops. The same reports have been given me unofficially by various generals and regimental officers under whom they have served. In more recent letters Lord Kitchener states that a proportion of these troops have not improved as he had hoped, but they are undergoing careful training.

Will the right hon. Gentleman say whether a large number of these men do not enter hospital immediately on arrival in South Africa, suffering from all kinds of disease, phthisis included?

I am not aware of that. The War Office is not responsible for the men falling ill.

I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War a question of which I have given him private notice—namely, whether he is aware that a number of yeomen who have returned from South Africa declined to receive their medals on Friday last on the ground that they had not received their arrears of pay; and whether he will take immediate steps to inquire into their grievance and arrange for the payment of the arrears without delay.

No such case has reached me. If the hon. Member will supply me with any such cases I will certainly give my attention to them. The practice of the War Office when the statement of the amount due is delayed is to grant to the men four-fifths of what they can show they appear to be entitled to.

I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War if he can state the number of Boers reported to him as killed, taken prisoners, and surrendered since the beginning of the war up to 1st July, 1901; also the number of horses, cattle, and sheep reported captured up to the same date; and whether he will state the number of prisoners now in custody.

The numbers of prisoners of war and surrendered burghers is about 33,000. Some more have been released on parole. No accurate returns of their killed have apparently been kept by the enemy, and therefore no information in this respect is available. No complete Returns of captured stock have been forwarded from South Africa.

Does that include women and children?

How many British troops have surrendered to and have been released by the Boers?

I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that Lord Kitchener's weekly report of casualties among the Boers for the past six months, from 31st January to 22nd July, show that 669 Boers were killed and only 390 wounded, whereas the usual proportion of killed to wounded in war ranges from one in three to one in six or seven; whether Lord Kitchener has sent any explanation of the fact that practically two Boers have been killed to one wounded; and, if not, whether some explanation will be asked for.

As I have already told the House, the Boers carry away their wounded, and we cannot tell how many are wounded.

Are there not some wounded included among the prisoners?

I cannot say whether that is so. As a rule wounded prisoners are mentioned as wounded.

I beg to ask the Secrstary of State for War whether he can state the number of British and Colonial soldiers who have since October lest been made prisoners by the Boers and afterwards released by them.

The hon. Member will find all the information available in the daily casualty lists and in the monthly summary of casualties.

May I ask whether the right hon. Gentleman is aware that a telegram in The Times shows that there has been a miscalculation of over 1,000 in the returns.

I am not aware of that.

May I ask, Sir, what is the reason why, in answer to an earlier question as to the total number of prisoners taken, the total was given, and when an hon. Member on this side of the House asks a question—

^* : Order, order! The hon. Member cannot criticise the answers given.

Are not Members on this side of the House who put questions entitled to have as full answers as are given to hon. Members on the other side of the House?

^* : If the hon. Member suggests that equal justice is not meted out by me to both sides of the House, he is very much out of order.

I asked a question myself, and I was referred to a weekly Return, and a question was asked by an hon. Member opposite—

^* : Order, order! The hon. Member is entirely out of order in discussing these matters. If he has any objection to take to the mode in which I deal with the business of the House—

What I said, Sir, had no reference whatever to you. My question was why a Minister gave totals in the case of questions which he wishes to answer—

^* : Order, order! The hon. Gentleman is now commenting on an answer that has been given. He cannot do that.

Are you aware, Sir, that we were precluded from discussing the way in which the right hon. Gentleman answers questions in Committee of Supply?

I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether the pay of civil surgeons who have served for three years with the Imperial forces will be rendered at the end of that period on a similar scale to the pay of members of the Royal Army Medical Corps.

The matter is under consideration.

I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether his attention has been called to the case of civil surgeons serving with the Imperial forces; and will steps be taken to render them eligible for the gratuity under the provisions of Army Order 136, June, 1901.

The hon. Member apparently refers to the gratuity granted to re-employed officers and those in a similar position. It is not issuable to medical men engaged under special terms.

Do not these men lose their professional employment in civil life when they serve with the Imperial forces, and ought they not to be in the same position as Army surgeons in the matter of gratuity?

The bargain made with them is a different one.

And a very hard bargain it is, too.

I beg to ask the Financial Secretary to the War Office whether he is able to promise reconsideration to the case of Captain Leumann, I.M.S., now deceased, who, having been lent by the Indian Government to the Natal Government, volunteered for service upon the outbreak of the war, and whose executors have been denied any participation in the war gratuity on the ground that he was engaged in a civil capacity; and whether it has been represented to him that under the Indian Government this officer would have been deemed to have earned such gratuity in similar circumstances.

Captain Leumann was granted a special rate of pay as a civil surgeon, and was therefore ineligible for the war gratuity. Had he been treated as a captain of the Royal Army Medical Corps, and thereby been eligible for the war gratuity, he would have been not so well off.

I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War a question of which I have given him private notice. whether it is a fact that he has been obliged to refuse all further official communications to a London morning journal; and, if so, whether he can make any statement on the subject.

I am not sorry that my hon. friend has put this question, because it enables me to state exactly what has occurred. I desire to repudiate the suggestion that any action has been taken against a morning journal in consequence of the information, which subsequently turned out correct, which that journal published respecting the shooting of the wounded at Vlakfontein. On the contrary, I am grateful to any correspondent who can give the public accurate intelligence as to past events. But on two occasions in the present year this journal has published statements on impending events based on secret official documents, and it is immaterial in my opinion whether these were obtained by direct purchase or through the means of a correspondent. In each case the information had been refused on patriotic grounds by another journal. On the last occasion, last week, I intimated to the editor that this practice must cease, and that unless he could give me the means of detecting the leakage I must take such steps as the Government can to protect the country from the effects of premature and inaccurate disclosures. I notice that this journal states to-day that it is "in a position to obtain much other official information," and I am informed that a similar case of the publication of information from an official document by this journal, also surreptitiously obtained, recently occurred at the Admiralty. I may add that I have already had to dismiss one official for making improper use of confidential documents. It may be that in this case the leakage is outside the War Office. But while taking such steps with regard to guilty individuals as may be necessary, I cannot justify leaving men of moderate income to the temptations which may be offered them by a prominent journal, and I think the House will assist me in my effort to put down these occurrences, which are a disgrace to the public service and a danger to the country.

May I ask the right hon. Gentleman whether he contemplates taking any steps under the Official Secrets Act, either against the proprietors of this journal or against other persons who may be implicated.

In any case in which I can take action under the Official Secrets Act I shall certainly do so.

I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether the medical officer's report upon the state of health of the children in Bloemfontein Refugee Camp, which was asked for by Lord Kitchener a month ago, has been yet received; and, if so. will it be published in extenso, and how soon.

The report has not yet been received.

On the 27th of last month I was told that the War Office had telegraphed, and expected a reply very soon. I will repeat the question on Thursday.

No mail can arrive between now and Thursday.

^* : I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will state the reason why the British Navy in past years landed Marines on Inyacke Island, in Delagoa Bay, for the purpose of hoisting the British flag there, and will he explain why this action has been discontinued.

No record can be found at the Admiralty of the occurrence referred to by the hon. Member.

(Derbyshire, Ilkeston): I beg to ask the Secretary to the Admiralty whether he can state the results of the inquiry into the condition of the transport "Mongolian" on her last voyage from Cape Town as regards defects in machinery, supplies, and accommodation for the troops; and what steps he proposes to take, or has taken, in the matter.

Inquiry has now been made into the circumstances attending the voyage of the "Mongolian." It appears that the machinery of this vessel broke down twice during the journey from the Cape, and in consequence the ship was considerably delayed and the voyage unduly lengthened. Before leaving on her outward voyage she was dry docked, thoroughly surveyed, and her engines opened up, and her Board of Trade certificate renewed. Up to the time of her last voyage the "Mongolian " had made the passage at her average rate of speed, twelve knots. The delay of the ship naturally caused an extra demand upon the stores, which in some cases proved inadequate. The commanding officer, on her last voyage from the United Kingdom, reported that the accommodation was entirely satisfactory on all points, and that the hospital could hardly be improved upon. Unfortunately great demands were made upon the accommodation in the case under consideration, owing to the fact that several patients who had acquired the germs of enteric at Kronstad developed the disease on board. The hire of the vessel has been stopped for the period by which she exceeded the normal length of voyage, and a fine of £700 has thus been inflicted. An abatement will also be made in the daily rates payable in respect of victualling.

^* : I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies if Captain Crowe, the British consul at Delagoa Bay, has communicated with the British Government as to the failure to seize, with the sanction of the Portuguese Government, treasure of ex-President Kruger, valued approximately at £2,000,000, secretly shipped from there by the sailing ship "Litchfield"; and, if so, will he state the nature of such communication, and, in the event of his having no information, will he make inquiries.

^* : During the prohibition of the export of gold from Lourenco Marques the vessel in question was searched, but no gold was found.

^* : Will the noble Lord say whether it is not a fact that the gold was pointed out to the British representative, but owing to the incompetence of the person employed by him the seizure was not effected?

^* : I must ask for notice of the question.

^* : How is it the Colonial Office answered a question on this subject on the last occasion, and now it is the Foreign Office?

[No answer was returned.]

^* : I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies if the Portuguese Government have leased, or are negotiating for the purpose of leasing, to the British Government the railway between Lorenzo Marques and Ressano Garcia, the frontier town of the Transvaal, and, if so, will he state the terms and the advantages that will be gained by British traders from any such action.

^* : We know nothing of any such negotiations.

I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether any voter now serving in South Africa would sacrifice his vote if his poor rate remained unpaid on the 20th of this month.

^* : I fear that the answer to this question must be in the affirmative.

I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that pipers and drummers of the 1st Volunteer Battalion Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders took part in an Orange procession at Greenock on the 12th July, wearing the uniform of their corps; whether such action on the part of Volunteers in uniform is permitted, and, if not, whether he will take steps to prevent such conduct in the future.

One piper and two drummers of this Volunteer battalion without permission played in an Orange procession on 12th July, and some ex-members of the pipe band played in apparently borrowed uniform. The matter is being taken up by the General Officer commanding the district.

I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether he is aware of the destitution of Mrs. Mary Gorman, a widow, of Harristown, county Kilkenny, whose two sons were in the Royal Irish Regiment, and that one of her children died while on his way to the Transvaal, and the other, after spending one year there and eight and a half years in India in the English Army, got a year's imprisonment for some neglect of duty; and whether, having regard to the circumstances, he will cause the imprisonment to be remitted, and give some relief to the mother of those two Irish soldiers.

I am not aware of the case. I regret to say that the grounds set forth in the question would not justify any reconsideration of the case.

I beg to ask the Secretary of State for India if he is aware of certain difficulties in the way of technical instruction and engineering training caused by the action of the Director of Public Instruction in the Bombay Presidency, whereby several students applying to enter the engineering branch of the College of Science at Poona found themselves excluded, and, having regard to the recent declarations of His Excellency Lord Curzon, at the Aligurh College, will he state what steps will be taken for the removal of the restrictions mentioned.

I learn from an answer given to a question in the Bombay Legislative Council on the 12th February last that, in consequence of the large increase in the number of students in the engineering branch of the Poona College of Science since the year 1898–99, it became necessary to limit the admissions in 1901 to forty, and to select those to be admitted by a competitive examination. Neither the accommodation in the college nor the teaching staff is calculated to admit of an indefinite extension of the numbers attending, and the restriction was absolutely necessary to provide for the efficient working of the institution, which is maintained primarily for the supply of candidates for Government service in the Public Works Department.

I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will state in what portions of the United States the British commercial agent is employed, what is the general nature of his duties, what salary and allowances he receives, and under what Vote the money is paid; and what commercial agents are employed elsewhere, what salaries are paid them, and under which Votes do they appear.

^* : The British commercial agent in the United States has his headquarters at Chicago; his general duties consist in watching and reporting on the commerce, industries, and products of special districts, and in answering inquiries from chambers of commerce and firms. His salary is £500 a year, and he also receives an allowance of £300 to cover travelling and other expenses. His salary and allowance, as well as those of the other commercial agents, are accounted for under the Diplomatic and Consular Vote, subhead "Special Missions," partly under the heading "Collection of Commercial Intelligence," £2,000 and the balance (£200) out of "Unforeseen Missions." The commercial agents for Russia and Switzerland reside at Moscow and Zurich, and receive respectively salaries of £500 and £300 and allowances of £300 and £200 a year. The remaining commercial agent who acts for Central America, and who is permitted to trade, receives only an allowance of £100. All these appointments are experimental.

Has the nobel Lord mentioned the whole of the commercial agents?

^* : Yes, Sir.

I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether His Majesty's Government have considered the advisability of encouraging the Chinese Government to meet the indemnities to the Powers, by an increase in the duties on both native and imported opium, with a view to assisting that Government to put down the opium vice, in preference to the increase in Customs duties on imports of useful articles proposed by some of the other Powers.

^* : I understand that the object which my hon. friend has in view is to make the duty on opium ultimately prohibitive. It is evident that such a result would not furnish China with money to pay off the indemnities. But, in fact, the question of what revenues should be utilised for this purpose has already been settled by agreement among the Powers concerned. I stated them to the House on Friday.†

I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that the crew of the steamship "Louisiana," at the port of Quebec, refused to proceed to sea in this vessel on the ground that she was in an unseaworthy condition, on account of her deckload of timber which gave her

† See Page 274

a list to port, that a surveyor was called by the crew with the result that he ordered some of the deckload to be taken off, and that after this was done the vessel had a list to starboard, in consequence of which five of the firemen refused to proceed in the vessel, for which they were sentenced to four weeks imprisonment.

The Board of Trade have not yet received particulars from Quebec of the case to which the hon. Member refers, but they have been asked for, and, so soon as they are in my possession, I will consider whether it is necessary for me to take any further action. Meanwhile I am informed that the "Louisiana" has arrived safely in this country, and inquiries shall be made on board.

I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether his attention has been called to the report of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce, Shipowners' and Shipmasters' Associations, in which reference is made to the inadequacy of Scottish lights, and that intervals occur in the lighting of the Scotch coasts; and will he state what steps the Northern Lighthouse Commissioners propose to take in the matter.

I have seen a copy of the report referred to, but the Board of Trade have not received any communication from the Commissioners of Northern Lighthouses on the subject.

I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to an inquest recently held by the Birmingham city coroner on a young man named Martin Brannon, who died from pneumonia and tubercle, certified by Dr. Moir, medical officer to the Ladywood Dispensary, to be due to brass poisoning; and whether, in view of the statement that a large proportion of the 2,000 men, women, and girls employed in the 400 brass foundries of Birmingham are suffering or have suffered from the well-known symptoms of this disease, and that the coroner stated that this was a case for inquiry, he will cause inquiry to be made.

^* : Yes, Sir. My attention has been called to the case by the coroner. The question of the danger to health from dust in brass polishing and in the polishing of other metals has for some time been engaging the attention of the factory staff, and especially of the Medical Inspector of Factories. I will make further inquiry into the matter, and consider what steps ought to be taken.

I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that Mr. Alhuisen, factory inspector, in the month of April last, issued to newspaper proprietors and owners of printing offices notices that the setting up of type came under Section 30 of the Factory and Working Act, 1895, which is known as the lead poisoning clause; whether he sanctioned this action of the inspector; and can he state what prosecutions, if any, took place as the result of this notice.

^* : Notices have been issued as stated in the question. The matter was not submitted for my sanction, but the action of the inspector seems to be justified by the number of cases of lead poisoning in printing works, of which the hon. Member will find particulars in the chief inspector's report just issued. The prevention of such cases turns entirely on the cleanliness of hands. The employers have made no demur, and there has been no question of any prosecution.

Were there not seventeen fewer deaths from this cause last year than the year before, and has any case been made out for this interference?

^* : I do not see how that affects the question. The matter is a very small one. It is merely the provision of accommodation for the workmen to wash their hands.

I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he can state whether he proposes to carry out the suggestion of the Controller of Prison Industries contained in the Report for 1900 (page 55) and abolish the treadwheel, crank, and other forms of unproductive labour in prison; and will he say how many treadwheel machines still remain in His Majesty's prisons, and in how many prisons the labour of oakum picking is continued.

^* : The Prisons Committee of 1894 recommended that cranks and treadwheels, where unproductive, should be abolished and some other form of labour substituted, and since that date active steps have been taken by the Commissioners to gradually discontinue the use of these forms of mechanical labour. There are only sixteen now in use, and most of these will shortly be discontinued, as soon as arrangements can be made for the water supply being otherwise provided for the prisons. Oakum picking is continued in most of the prisons, but is only resorted to in the case of very short sentences, where time does not admit of more useful employment being engaged in with any profit or advantage.

I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether anything is being done to remedy the difficulty experienced by the prison authorities in getting suitable men for the position of prison warders, as stated by the prison inspectors on page 31 of the Report for 1900.

^* : I am afraid I cannot say more at present than that this matter is receiving careful consideration.

I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether he is aware that Dr. Scott Tebb was elected medical officer of health by the Urban District Council of Penge, after open competition in response to public advertisement; can he state why the Local Government Board refused to sanction the appointment; whether he requires a profession of belief in vaccination from all persons before sanctioning their appointment as medical officers of health; and will he say what duties in securing vaccination are imposed on medical officers of health to urban district councils.

(Mr. WALTER LONG, Bristol, S.): The case of Dr. Tebb was fully discussed a short time ago by the hon. Member and others on the Vote for the Local Government Board, and, as then appeared, sanction to his application was refused on account of the views expressed by him in relation to vaccination. The answer to the third point in the question is in the negative. As regards the last point, a medical officer of health is much concerned with vaccination as being the most effectual means of preventing the spread of smallpox, and in the event of an outbreak of that disease in his district it would devolve upon him to do his utmost to promote vaccination and re-vaccination.

I beg to ask the President of the Board of Agriculture whether his attention has been directed to resolutions and statements from agricultural societies and other representative bodies, pointing out the inconvenience caused to farmers by exclusion of Canadian store cattle; whether any cases of pleuro-pneumonia, or diseases resembling it, have lately been detected in animals from Canada slaughtered at the port of debarcation; whether there is any proof that the disease exists, or ever has existed, in the Dominion, or if it now exists in the United States; and whether he will cause inquiry to be made by Commission, or otherwise, into the whole question.

^* : We have of course received resolutions from the few districts interested in the importation of store cattle. The question is one which was decided by an Act of Parliament passed so recently as 1896—and the existence or absence of disease in the exporting countries was only one element in the case for passing such an Act. So far as our evidence goes, there is no reason for suspecting the existence of disease.

I beg to ask the President of the Board of Agriculture whether, in view of the interruption of and damage to trade between the Argentine and England, His Majesty's Government has received any information from the Argentine Government or the British Minister in Buenos Ayres which would enable it to enter into negotiations for the removal of restrictions on both sides.

^* : We have no power to make such a bargain as is suggested in the question, nor would it be desirable that we should have such power. It is our duty to prohibit the importation of cattle from any country where there is good reason to believe that foot-and-mouth disease exists, and to remove the prohibition when we have reason to believe that disease has disappeared, and that otherwise the circumstances are such as to afford reasonable security against the importation of diseased animals.

I beg to ask the President of the Board of Agriculture whether he will take steps to ascertain from British farmers the prices they have lately been paid for live cattle and dead meat sent to London for sale; and whether he will also ascertain what gradual increase, if any, has been made in the prices of American meat by the dealers who control its sale.

^* : We have no machinery at our disposal for making such a wide inquiry as the question suggests, nor are the farmers under any obligation to give us such information if we asked for it. There is no reason whatever to suppose that those prices would show a different tendency to the current quotations at the principal markets. Those of the London markets do not indicate any material change in values during the last three months. There was a rise during practically the whole of 1900, but a decrease has since, occurred. There was a similar rise in American meat last year, and a decrease since April of this year.

I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether he will explain why a deputation of London auxiliary postmen in October, with respect to their wages and prospects,, was not received by him, seeing that assurances had been given that this privilege would be granted.

The deputation was not received by the Postmaster General because nearly all the subjects which they proposed to bring under discussion had already been exhaustively considered and dealt with in the Report of the Tweedmouth Commission, and no good purpose would have been served by reopening them. The hon. Member's reference to assurances on this point is not understood. It should be remembered that auxiliary postmen are not in the permanent service of the Department, and are only employed for a portion of the day.

I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether he is aware that registered parcels from Ceylon to Australia are sent via England in place of being sent direct; will he state who is responsible for this arrangement, and whether he will take steps to adopt a business rule in the matter.

The arrangements for the transmission of parcels, whether insured or not, between Ceylon and Australia are made by the Colonial Governments; and, according to the Ceylon Post Office Guide, a direct change has been established. As, however, it was noticed some little time since that insured parcels were occasionally sent from one Eastern colony to another by way of England, the Postmaster General drew the attention of the several post offices concerned to the advantage of sending all such parcels directly.

I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether he is aware that on a recent occasion a gentleman was refused stamps at the West Strand Telegraph Office on Sunday on the ground that only stamps for telegrams were allowed to be sold; whether throughout the country this rule is in operation; if so, will he abolish it.

No, Sir; the Postmaster General is not aware of such a case, and any officer taking the course described would be disobeying his instructions, which are that stamps for all purposes are to be sold on Sundays at the West Strand Post Office.

I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether he will make another attempt to provide stamps for sale at the great railway stations in London, also at Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham, Dublin, Belfast, Edinburgh, and Glasgow; and has he ascertained the objection of the great newspaper vendors to sell stamps at railway stations.

Endeavours were made in 1892, and again in 1897, to arrange for the sale of postage stamps by persons keeping book and other stalls at the London railway stations, as well as at those in the larger provincial towns, but without much success. The chief newspaper vendors have hitherto declined to undertake the sale at their railway bookstalls, and the Postmaster General is not aware that they are prepared to reconsider their decision. Licences have, however, been granted in recent years to certain persons for the sale of stamps, etc., at railway stations and other public places by means of automatic machines, but it is feared that the demand has been too small to encourage a larger provision of these machines.

I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether his attention has been drawn to the despatch of letters from the village of Glyndyfrdwg, in Merionethshire; is he aware that letters now leave that village at 5.40 p.m. and go to Llangollen, where they lie till 9.15 p.m.; and, as the mail train passes through the village of Glyndyfrdwg at 9.7 p.m., whether he could arrange for the Glyndyfrdwg bag to go by that train to Chester, and be sorted in the railway sorting office; and whether, having regard to the postal arrangements for the adjoining village of Carrog, steps will be taken for the improvement of those of Glyndyfrdwg at an early date.

The night mail letters from Glyndyfrdwg are now sent by the train leaving that place at 5.51 p.m. To afford a despatch by the train leaving at 9.7 p.m., as suggested, would involve the letters being sorted in the travelling post office, and the work in the travelling post office is now performed under such great pressure at this point that the Postmaster General regrets that he would not be justified in making any addition to it.

Will the same facilities be given to Glyndyfrdwg as to the adjoining village?

I cannot say without notice, as I do not know what the facilities are.

I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether he has been able to make arrangements to place in the library of the House an unrevised report of the Debates.

Yes, Sir; the contractors have volunteered to deliver in future complete sets of uncorrected proofs to the library, for the use of Members, simultaneously with their despatch to the speakers.

I beg to ask the First Commissioner of Works whether he can see his way to the construction, during the recess, of new exits from the No and Aye lobbies direct into the lobby, by making passages through the dividing wall, where it is panelled near the present screen-doors; to moving the check tables close to these new exits, which would be provided with doors, and turnstiles that permit egress only, so that Members, as soon as the doors of the House are locked, and no more can enter, could pass out into the lobby, and be duly counted without waiting till the House is cleared and inner doors locked.

No, Sir; if there were no other reason, against the proposal, I fear it is structurally impossible. The alterations could only be carried out by the removal of the staircases giving access to the galleries of the House. These staircases cannot apparently be dispensed with, and cannot be erected elsewhere. An important part of the post office accommodation would also be destroyed.

I beg to ask the First Commissioner of Works whether the drawings for the new public offices, left by the late Mr. Brydon, include a complete set of elevations and sections as well as plans, and, if so, to what scale; and whether they also include the half-inch and full-size details necessary for the erection of the building.

The general drawings include complete elevations and sections, as well as the plans, and they are to a scale of 10 feet to one inch. There are full and clearly drawn half-inch scale details of both exterior and interior, but there are no full-size details except for joiners' work. My department has retained the services of Mr. Brydon's principal assistant with a view to ensuring, so far as possible, that Mr. Brydon's design may be carried out in its integrity.

I beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will undertake that no expenditure shall be incurred to carry out the recommendations of the Select Committee on House of Commons Accommodation without the House having first an opportunity of expressing an opinion on the desirability of incurring such expenditure.

I cannot proceed to carry out any of the recommendations of the Select Committee until an estimate has been considered and passed by the House, or until the approval of the House has been signified after discussion on the Houses of Parliament Buildings Estimate. I am anxious that such discussion should, if possible, take place this session.

I beg to ask the Lord Advocate whether he can state how long it is since the Greenock Fever Hospital was condemned as unsuitable by the Scottish Local Government Board; whether he is aware that a site for the proposed now hospital has not yet been selected; and whether the Local Government Board is prepared to insist on a suitable fever hospital being provided for Greenock and the neighbouring burghs without further loss of time.

I am informed by the Local Government Board that in November, 1898, they drew the attention of the local authority of Greenock to certain serious defects in the hospital accommodation provided for infectious cases occurring in the burgh, and suggested that a new hospital be erected. The local authority are co-operating with the local authorities of the burghs of Port Glasgow and Gourock, and with the local authority of the lower district of Renfrewshire, with the view of erecting a joint hospital. A joint committee has been formed, and has been engaged in endeavouring to secure a site. Several sites have been visited and reported on, but a suitable one has not yet been secured. The Local Government Board will endeavour to hasten the action of the local authorities.

I beg to ask the Lord Advocate whether he can state how much is spent annually out of the public rate by Greenock School Board in providing prizes for religious as distinct from secular knowledge.

I am informed by the School Board that the amount spent in the manner indicated in the question is £14 5s. 2d.

Is the expenditure legal?

Yes, Sir, perfectly legal.

I beg to ask the Lord Advocate, as representing the Secretary for Scotland, if he will explain the cause of the delay in issuing the Report of the Local Government Board for Scotland, and will steps be taken to ensure the issue of the Report at an earlier date next year.

The delay has been due partly to the fact that the Report is now brought up to the end of the preceding calendar year, and partly to unusual pressure of work caused by the outbreak of small-pox in Glasgow. It is hoped next year to issue the Report by the beginning of May.

I beg to ask the Vice-Pre- sident of the Committee of Council on Education whether a school board organising a night school as a public elementary school not covered by the sanction of the Education (No. 2) Bill will be able to draw upon the school board rate in aid of the instruction of any pupils over fifteen years of age at the commencement of the school year.

I have many times tried to explain to the hon. Member that this is a legal question which the Board of Education have no authority to determine. In their opinion, as I have several times stated, such application of the school rate would be illegal, but it is a matter which the school boards must determine for themselves.

I beg to ask the Vice-President of the Committee of Council on Education whether, in view of the many favourable comments in the annual Education Blue-books respecting the value of gymnastics, swimming, and physical drill to the pupils of the night schools, he can see his way to reinstate suitable physical exercises among the subjects of instruction for which grants are receivable in the night schools.

Under the Minute the fixed grant formerly made is discontinued. It was under it that physical exercises received indirectly Government aid. It is quite open to managers of evening schools to make provision for such exercises, but no special grant for practising them will be made.

I beg to ask the hon. Member for Watford, as Chairman of the Committee of Selection, whether during the current session any Member of the House has asked to be excused serving on a Private Bill Committee on the ground of his private profession, business, or avocation; and whether any Member has been excused on that ground.

The answer to both questions is in the affirmative.

I beg to ask the Vice-President of the Committee of Council on Education whether he can explain why the Crookes Endowed School, Sheffield, received no income from endowment during the year ending 31st March, 1899.

^* : I have been asked by the Vice-President to answer this question as Charity Commissioner. According to the accounts rendered to the Charity Commissioners for the year ending 31st March, 1899, the school received a sum of £84 0s. 7d. from endowment.

I beg to ask the hon. Member for the Tunbridge Division of Kent, as representing the Charity Commissioners, whether the Charity Commissioners can give in their annual Reports, in addition to the lump sum realised by the sale of the real property of charities, a statement of the number of acres of land sold during the year, with the number of acres situated in rural and urban districts respectively.

^* : The Commissioners will be glad to accede to the request of the hon. Member, but as so much of the present year has elapsed it cannot be done in the next annual Report.

I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to the prosecutions instituted by the sanitary authorities in Ireland against people in the congested districts for keeping during severe weather cows or other animals in their dwellings; and whether, in view of the fact that these people are owing to their poverty unable themselves to build proper sheds and outhouses, he will recommend the Congested Districts Board to give them assistance to do so.

I am not aware that prosecutions have been instituted by sanitary authorities as stated. Under improvement schemes carried out on estates of the Congested Districts Board, and in other places in, the congested districts through the medium of parish committees, the Board has given limited assistance to small occupiers in order to encourage the building of outhouses and the removal of cattle from their dwelling-houses. It is open to the small occupiers in the congested districts, generally, to apply to the Board for a grant to be administered by a parish committee, but the funds set aside for the purpose this year have already been appropriated.

I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether the attention of the Local Government Board for Ireland has been called to the need which exists for a branch dispensary at Dunsford, in the Strangford Dispensary district, county Down; whether the Board is aware that the sick poor of Dunsford are obliged to travel to Ballyculter, a distance of five miles, to obtain medical necessaries; and whether steps will be taken to oblige the guardians of the Downpatrick Union to establish the branch dispensary referred to.

This matter has been before the Board of Guardians for some time past, and on the 22nd June they gave directions for the establishment of a dispensary at Dunsford.

I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if he can state at what rate per head on the average attendance in each case was the bulk sum paid to the conductors of convent national schools last year calculated; does this bulk sum include or exclude the residual capitation grant payable to all schools under the Education Act of 1892; whether he has observed that, in Memorandum, page 30, the insertion of the bulk sum is mentioned as a clerical error due to inexperience of clerks; whether he will ascertain who was responsible for the error in this case; and whether any responsible official in the National Education Office checks such work.

A Return is in preparation showing for convent schools the rate per pupil paid and the average attendance on which paid in each case. The Return will be communicated to the hon. Member when received. The bulk sum paid as a temporary measure in lieu of the capitation grant included the equivalent of the residual grant in each case. The bulk sums paid were subject, however, to rectification. This process of revision and rectification of the bulk sums is now in progress. The insertion of the bulk sum was not the error, but the omission to strike out the reference to capitation.

I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that since the Local Government (Ireland) Act came into operation there has been a considerable increase in the number of claims for alleged malicious burning of mountain heather (including a recent claim by Colonel Heighington, of Donard, county Wicklow), and for other alleged malicious injuries to property; whether he has read the judgment of Chief Baron Palles at the recent Monaghan Assizes in reversing two decisions of the county court judge, one of which was a claim for £450; and whether he will order an inquiry into the increase of such claims with a view to an alteration of the law under which they are made.

Compensation was not obtainable under the Grand Jury Acts for malicious injuries to mountain heather as it is now under the Local Government Acts. The answer to the second question in the first paragraph is in the affirmative. The whole question of compensation for malicious injury was carefully considered at the time of the passing of the Local Government Act, and the law deliberately changed to meet an acknowledged grievance. The best form of inquiry, namely, of hearing before the county court judge with an appeal, is already secured, and no change in the law is contemplated.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that in many cases the burning is not at all malicious?

^* : Order, order! That is discussing the answer.

I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that at a recent meeting of the county Wicklow national school teachers it was stated in a resolution passed by the meeting that arrears of books and requisites for periods ranging from fifteen months to a week were still due to most of the teachers present; that several of the teachers had received books they had not ordered, and which were useless, instead of books that had been ordered and paid for, and which were needed; and that many of the articles ordered had not been delivered nor the orders acknowledged; and whether he would draw the attention of the Board of Education to these complaints with a view to having them inquired into.

Yes, Sir; the hon. Member has been good enough to send me a newspaper report of the proceedings at the meeting referred to. I observe, however, that the names of the teachers who made these complaints are not given. In order to identify the requisitions and to facilitate inquiry it is desirable that particulars of the names of the teachers and their schools should be supplied, and if this is done the matter will be fully investigated by the Commissioners.

I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to the condition of the sixty-two tenants living on one town-land in the Ballinakill electoral division of Mount Bellew rural district; whether he is aware that the sixty-two tenants are existing on land valued at £227, or about £3 10s. for each family; and, seeing that there are grazing lands in this division valued at £1,840, whether the Government intend to take any steps to enlarge the holdings of these tenants.