asked the Lord-Advocate whether the Scottish Office has lodged any application with the Treasury for a portion of the grant for the relief of the unemployed; if so, what is the amount of such sum; whether the Treasury has sanctioned such amount or a portion thereof; if so, what is the amount allocated to the distress committee of the city of Edinburgh; and what was the amount actually advanced to the same disress committee during the corresponding period of last year?

As already stated in reply to a question by the hon. Member for the Bridgeton Division, an application has been lodged, but I am not in a position to state the final amount allocated to Edinburgh. The total grant to Edinburgh in respect of the year ending 10th May, 1908, was £6,595, and up to date in the current year £2,750 has been paid to the distress committee.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty if he will state the dates when initial orders for collection of material were given, and also the actual or estimated dates of completion of the following ships, viz., the "Bellerophon," "Temeraire," "Superb," "St. Vincent," "Collingwood," and "Vanguard"?

supplied the following particulars:—

		Date of Provisional acceptance of Shipbuilders' tenders (contract ships).	Date of placing first orders for material (dock-yard ships),	Estimated or actual dates for completion of ship.
"Superb"	…	26th December, 1906	—	May, 1909
"Vanguard"	…	28th December, 1907	—	1st March, 1910
"Bellerophon"	…	—	12th September, 1906	20th February, 1909
"Temeraire"	…	—	28th September, 1906	31st May, 1909
"St. Vincent"	…	—	30th September, 1907	December, 1909
"Collingwood"	…	—	1st October, 1907	February, 1910

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs why the British delegate, at the last meeting of the Permanent Commission under the Sugar Convention, did not vote against the resolution which included Brazil among the bounty-giving countries; and how the fact that Brazil increased its surtax could be regarded as tantamount to giving a bounty, in view of previous decisions of the Commission?

Under the Additional Act to the Sugar Convention this country has been entirely freed from any obligation to penalise bounty-fed sugar on importation, and decisions of the Permanent Commission declaring any particular State to give a bounty on the production or exportation of sugar must, therefore, affect this country in a far lesser degree than it affects the other countries represented on the Commission, because this country is no longer prevented from importing Brazilian or other sugar, whatever the decision of the Commission may be. For that reason the British delegate, while not assenting, refrained from voting, in accordance with his instructions. At the same time, he stated that, "As the British delegation has contended on several occasions, the mere existence of an excessive surtax should not be considered as giving rise to a bounty." I would refer the hon. Member to page 2 of the British delegate's report.

asked the Lord Advocate if he will state the names of the counties in Scotland in which either agriculture or a course of instruction designed with special reference to agricultural conditions is taught in secondary schools; the name of the school in each county; and the number of pupils in attendance?

So far as is known to the Department, instruction in agriculture does not form part of the regular curriculum of any secondary school in Scotland, but courses of instruction in agriculture are given at suitable centres in most, if not all, of the counties of Scotland by properly qualified officers of the agricultural colleges. These courses are sometimes given at secondary schools and sometimes elsewhere.

asked the Secretary what was the number of emigrants from England during 1906, 1907, and 1908?

addressed similar questions (1) to the Chief Secretary for Ireland in relation to the number of emigrants from Ireland, and (2) to the Lord Advocate respecting the emigration from Scotland in the same years?

, on behalf of the Board of Trade, replied to all three questions, and submitted the following statement, showing the number of passengers leaving English, Irish and Scottish ports for non-European countries and arriving at such ports there from, during each of the years 1906, 1907 and 1908, distinguishing British and foreign passengers so far as possible:—

OUTWARD.					INWARD.			BALANCE. *(+)OUTWARD †(-) INWARD
		British.	Foreign.	Nationality not distinguished	British.	Foreign.	Nationality not distinguished	British.	Foreign.	Nationality not distinguished
From and to English Ports.
1906	…	243,756	210,830	3,458	108,017	81,681	4,435	*135,739	*129,140	† 977
1907	…	295,086	217,306	229	1131,843	109,347	3,857	*163,243	*107,950;	†3,628
1908	…	207,243	115,201	—	146,238	150,532	—	*61,005	†35,331	—
From and to Irish Ports.
1906.	…	43,036	434	—	15,142	4,734	—	*27,894	†4,300	—
1907.	…	52,459	184	—	19,375	8,726	—	*33,084	†8,542	—
1908.	…	30,228	4,417	—	15,095	8,859	—	*15,133	†4,442	—
From and to Scottish Ports.
1906.	…	38,345	17,878	—	7,307	8,849	—	*31,038	*9,029	—
1907.	…	48,135	21,550	—	9,370	11,110	5	*38,765	*10,440	†5
1908.	…	25,728	3,594	—	10,710	11,488	—	*15,018	†7,894	—

No information is available with regard to the total number of outgoing passengers included above who are properly describable as "Emigrants," but according to the Returns of the Registrar-General, Ireland, the number of natives of Ireland who left that country with the intention of settling permanently elsewhere was 35,344 in 1906, 39,082 in 1907, and 23,295 in 1908. Of these, the number proceeding to the Colonies or Foreign countries was 31,279 in 1906, 35,120 in 1907 and 20,389 in 1908.

asked the Lord Advocate whether the Scotch Education Department lately issued any special instructions to His Majesty's inspectors of schools or to school boards to the effect that schools in rural districts should not be granted for political meetings, concerts, or social functions, even if the committees organising such give school boards adequate payment to secure the special cleaning of the floors, etc., after such meetings, and if they assume responsibility for the care of the school furnishings?

In a circular addressed to school boards, a copy of which will be supplied to the hon. Member, managers of schools were warned as to the need for exercising greater caution in future in allowing school premises to be used for purpose of entertainments, more particularly when other suitable buildings were obtainable. No mention is made of political meetings, nor does the warning given given amount to prohibition.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, in view of the fact that the assessment on the deer forests of the Highlands produces a large proportion of the revenue of the counties concerned and gives a very considerable amount of employment, in addition to the expenditure of large sums of money, he will consider whether other and more suitable sources of revenue can be found, without the imposition of special taxes per acre on land devoted to this purpose?

I will consider the point raised by my hon. Friend.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland if he can state whether, under Section 108 of the Children Act, 1908, a room in the union workhouse would be considered a proper place of detention; and if provision will be made in the Constabulary Vote for the expenses in connection with such places of detention?

The matters referred to are under consideration.

asked the Secretary of State for War what amount of money is represented respectively by the 80 per cent. and 20 per cent, of the actual cost of tools and gauges, etc., to be repaid to the contrator, as specified in footnotes on the Statement submitted by the Secretary of State for War on 23rd February, showing numbers of rifles ordered from the Birmingham Small Arms Company during the years 1900–1 to 1908–9?

The amount of money represented by the 80 per cent, paid to the Birmingham Small Arms Company is £5,078 5s. 10d., and by the 20 per cent, is £1,269 11s. 5d.

asked a similar question as to the number of rifles ordered from the Royal Small Arms Company during the years 1900–1 to 1908–9.

The amount of money represented by the 80 per cent, paid to the London Small Arms Company is £3,404 8s., and by the 20 per cent, is £851 2s.

asked the Undersecretary for India whether, in view of the increased cost of living, any, and, if so, what, alteration has been made during the last 38 years in the rate of pay of the officers of the Superior Accounts Branch of the Public Works Department in India; whether a memorial was submitted by such officers to the Government of India more than a year ago; if so, whether any, and what, answer has been given to such memorial; and what steps the Government propose to take in the matter?

There has been no increase in the rate of pay of the Superior Branch of the Public Works Department in India during the last 38 years except to some extent in the grade of examiners. The Secretary of State has no knowledge of the memorial referred to by the hon. Member or of what action the Government of India are taking on it, but he will ask that Government for information on the subject.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether, in the best interests of the service, he will consider the possibility of discontinuing the custom of stopping a petty officer's or man's leave automatically on his being placed in the report, unless the charge against him is of a serious character?

The question has been under the close attention of the Admiralty, who are now considering the reports of the Commanders-in-Chief.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty how many Presbyterian commissioned chaplains are there in the Navy?

There are no commissioned chaplains in the Royal Navy who are not clergymen of the Church of England.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he will state the amount to be voted for new construction and armaments for the United Kingdom in 1909–10, calculated on the same basis as the figures officially given for Germany, £10,751,466, and for the United States, £10,015,101?

The amount to be Voted for new construction and armaments for the United Kingdom in 1909–10, calculated on the same basis as the figures officially given for Germany, £10,751,466, and for the United States, £10,015,101, it £10,256,194.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury whether he can state how many of the 94 officers of Customs and Excise who have been compulsorily retired, in consequence of the amalgamation of the two services, before completing 40 years' pensionable service, belong to the Customs and how many to the Excise, and to what grades do they belong; on what principle have the Board made the selection of officers to be thus compulsorily retired; how many of these officers would, under ordinary circumstances, have been allowed to complete their full period of pensionable service; and, in view of the fact that compulsory retirement deprives these officers of. the difference between their pay and pension and also of the full pension, whether, in harmony with the undertakings given to the House on the amalgamation of the Departments of Customs and Excise, he will take the necessary steps to redress the hardship entailed?

Of the 94 officers in question, 19 belong to the Customs and 75 to the Excise, the numbers in the respective grades being as follows:—

Customs	No.	Excise.	No.
1st class Clerks	3	1st class Principal Clerks	3
1st class Surveyors	1	2nd class do.	6
1st class Examining Officers	10	1st class Supervisors	7
2nd class Examining Officers	5	1st class Officers	58
		2nd class do.	1
	19		75

The retirement order of 10th October, 1908, has been applied to all officers of 61 years of age and upwards, except in the case of a few of the higher officials, who have been retained in the interests of the Service. It is not possible to say how many of these 94 officers would, if the Order of 10th October, 1903, had not been issued, have been allowed to complete 40 years' service before retirement.

asked the President of the Local Government Board whether he is aware that on 8th February the Ringwood (Hants) Urban District Council gave instructions that three cows on the farm of Mr. Goulding, of Ashley, that were found to be suffering from tubercular disease of the udder, should be isolated, and that the milk obtained from them must not be sold; that on 22nd February, when the council's officer was asked if the instructions had been carried out and if he could state where the cows were, he could not give the information asked for; that subsequent inquiries proved that Mr. Goulding had sold the cows, that they had been sent to London, and that the medical officer of health for the London County Council had been informed of this; and whether he will make inquiries with the view of ascertaining whether the cows have been killed and the meat sold to the public, or whether they are being used for dairy purposes, and the milk sold, contrary to the instructions of the district council?

I have made inquiry on this subject. I understand that on 26th January last the Veterinary Inspector of the London County Council certified three cows on this farm to be suffering from tubercular disease of the udder, and that Mr. Goulding undertook not to use the milk from these cows. I also understand that the cows were afterwards sold, and that they eventually found their way to Salisbury market, where they were again sold, and that from that time they were lost sight of. I have not been able to obtain any further information with regard to them.

asked the Prime Minister whether a Departmental Committee of the Treasury reported in 1905 that it might be worth consideration whether a further inquiry should be made into the conditions under which the privilege of registration under the Industrial and Provident Societies Act, 1893, is conferred; whether he is aware that the industrial co-operative societies registered under the Act admitted doing a business of over £110,000,000 per annum, with over £11,000,000 per annum of profit, all of which is freed from liability to income tax by the above-named Act; and whether, in the interests of all taxpayers, he will appoint a Select Committee to inquire into this question?

My right hon. Friend has asked me to reply to this question. The answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. Industrial co-operative societies registered under the Act of 1893 are not exempt from income tax, but only, as a matter of administrative convenience and subject to certain conditions, from direct assessment to income tax. The hon. Member will find that the subject was fully considered by the Departmental Committee to which he refers (Cd. 2575, 1905, paragraphs 130–139), who came to the conclusion that no case was made out for an alteration of the law. I do not, as at present advised, propose to recommend the appointment of a Select Committee to inquire further into this question.

asked the Home Secretary whether his attention has been drawn to the cases of George M'Clure and William Henry Richardson, who were each sentenced to live years' detention in an industrial school on the 5th March, at Nottingham, for breaking into telephone boxes and stealing money there-from; whether he is aware that in the case of George M'Clure his late employer, the superintendent of the Band of Hope, and the superintendent of the Sunday school, of which he was a member, are all prepared to give him an excellent character up to the time of his arrest; that this was his first appearance before the magistrates, and that he is only 15 years of age; in view of these facts can he see his way clear to recommend a reduction of the sentence; and, in the case of William Henry Richardson, who is only 14 years of age, and this was his first appearance before the magistrates, can he in this case see his way clear to recommend a reduction of the sentence?

I have made inquiry into these cases, and find that in addition to the charge of which the boys were convicted, there were no less than 19 other felonies charged against them, to the whole of which they pleaded guilty. Most of these offences consisted of breaking into letterboxes or stealing letters containing postal orders, and in view of the number and seriousness of the offences, committal to reformatory schools appears to have been the best way of dealing with the offenders. The boys were committed, not for five years, but until the age of 19, and it will be within the discretion of the managers of the schools to release them on licence at an earlier date if the circumstances warrant it.

asked the hon. Member for South Somerset, as representing the President of the Board of Agriculture, whether he is aware that, in the month of December, 1907, William Gretton, F. Binch, J. Jarvis, A. Meades, William Binch, and D. Binch, all of whom are agricultural labourers or cottagers in the village of Calverton, Nottinghamshire, applied to the Notts County Council for small holdings varying from 14 to 40 acres; that they met a sub-committee of the county council at Newark-on-Trent, on the 13th of May, 1908, in reference thereto, but that nothing has been done up to the present time by the county council in the matter; and will he take such measures as he thinks necessary to compel the Notts County Council to grant the request of these men?

The applicants for small holdings to whom my hon. Friend refers have recently written to us. We are in communication with the county council on the matter, and if the council cannot acquire land for the approved applicants by voluntary arrangement we shall press them to use their compulsory powers.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to explain the meaning in the final protocol of the London Naval Conference of the paragraph in italics on page 71 of Cd. 4554 of 1909, with reference to difficulties of a constitutional nature standing in the way of the ratification of The Hague Convention of 1907 in establishing an international prize court; what are the constitutional difficulties therein referred to, and in what countries do they arise; and can he state, with regard to each country, by what method it is proposed to avoid them?

I would refer the hon. Member to Paragraph 71 of the General Report of the British delegates on the results of the Conference (see page 103 of the Blue Book Miscellaneous No. 4). The United States delegates at the Conference explained that the terms of the Constitution of the United States precluded the possibility of allowing appeals from decisions of the United States Prize Courts or Supreme Court to be taken to an International Court. In order to meet this difficulty, they proposed that parties, having under the Prize Court Convention the right to appeal to the International Court, should be allowed, instead of so appealing, to institute proceedings in the International Court for a re-hearing of their case "de novo"; and that, if that Court decided in their favour, such decision should take the form of an award of compensation. I am not aware whether the same difficulty would arise in any other countries besides the United States.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he can explain the effect on the carrying trade of this country of the declaration of London in a war in which this country might be neutral and the United States a belligerent, seeing that the United States is not a party to the Declaration of Paris of 1856; and would the United States in such a war retain the power of capturing the enemy's goods in British neutral vessels.

The Declaration of Paris is not affected by any provisions of the Declaration of London. The position of a State not bound by the Declaration of Paris remains, consequently, unaltered in this respect by the Declaration of London, except in so far as Article 2 of the latter reproduces the fourth rule of the Declaration of Paris, respecting the necessity of blockades being effective. If, however, the hon. Member will refer to Article 17 of the United States War Code (as amended), which served as the United States Memorandum for the deliberations of the Naval Conference (see Blue-Book Miscellaneous, No. 5 (1909), page 11), he will see that the United States Government recognise the principle that enemy's goods on neutral vessels are free unless the vessels are liable to capture for carriage of contraband, violation of blockade, or unneutral service.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he had any official information which indicated an intention on the part of the Russian Government to close the trade in Russian waters in the Far East to vessels which do not sail under the Russian flag; and what area was included in this prohibition?

The privilege enjoyed by foreign vessels of engaging in coasting trade in Siberian waters expired in October last, but was extended until October, 1909, after which date, I am informed, a special committee of the Ministry of Commerce have advised the Russian Government not to renew it as regards steamships. The practice as regards sailing vessels remains unaltered, and a proposal is under consideration for extending the privilege for four years more in these waters as far north as Olga Bay, but no further. The whole Pacific coast and islands adjoining would be included in the prohibition as regards steamships.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether his attention has been called to the statement that the Egyptian Government has decided to revive the Press Law of 1881 which has been allowed to fall into abeyance since 1894; on whose initiative this decision has been taken.; and whether the matter has been, or will be, referred to the Foreign Office before any final step is taken?

In 1902 the General Assembly complained of the evils arising from the want of proper control over the Press, and passed a Resolution asking the Government to take the necessary steps to prepare a Press Law. In 1904 the Legislative Council called the attention of the Egyptian Government to the necessity of putting the Press Law of 1881 into operation. His Majesty's Government have concurred in the course which is now being taken, and the question will be fully dealt with in Sir Eldon Gorst's Annual Report.