asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether it can be arranged that at least one-half of the coals used in His Majesty's ships when in Home waters and during manœuvres in the North Sea shall be Northumberland best steam coal?

Welsh steam coal being the most suitable and efficient coal for use in His Majesty's ships, it is not considered in the interests of the service to make use of the description of coal recommended.

asked the Home Secretary whether he can state if provision will be made in the promised Shop Hours Bill for the inclusion within its scope of tradesmen who are sub-postmasters, so as to embrace the postal and telegraph business transacted on their premises?

Representations on the subject have been received, and are under my consideration.

asked the Postmaster-General whether, in making any working arrangement with the National Telephone Company, Limited, for carrying on the telephone system either in Glasgow or elsewhere, he will insist on such arrangements as will ensure that all telephone employés are safeguarded to at least the same extent as has been required by the President of the Board of Trade in connection with the proposed working union between the Great Northern, Great Central, and Great Eastern Railway Companies?

I do not anticipate that any working arrangement which may be made with the National Telephone Company with regard to the telephone service in Glasgow or elsewhere will lead to a reduction in the number of telephone employés.

asked the Postmaster-General if he could say when it is proposed to lay the telegraph cable between Clare Island, county Mayo, and the mainland?

I am afraid that I cannot fix a date at present. The season is unsuitable for the work, but it shall be done as soon as may be.

asked the Postmaster-General whether he has con- sidered all further evidence in the case of Mr. A. C. Careless, dismissed from the London postal service; and whether he will consider the advisability of prosecuting this gentleman on a charge of theft or reinstating him in the postal service?

I am not aware of the existence of any fresh evidence in connection with the case in question since it was exhaustively considered in 1904 by a Special Committee of Inquiry, before which Mr. Careless was represented by counsel.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he is aware that resentment is felt among the men serving in the Navy in regard to hospital stoppages in cases where illness is not in any way attributable to the misconduct of the invalid; and whether he will make inquiries with a view to remedying this alleged grievance in such cases?

This subject is now under the consideration of the Board.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he can now advise an alteration of the regulations so that a petty officer or man shall not be deprived of his non-substantive rating or pay for alleged incompetent until after examination by a qualified board of officers, such as passed him for his particular rating?

The regulations now provide that before reduction or deprivation of non-substantive rating for incompetence, the captain shall order inquiry by officers of the ship. If found to be incompetent, the captain may then, at his discretion, reduce the man's non-substantive rating, or cancel it altogether. This is quite sufficient to ensure justice.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he can state the value of imports and exports of the United Kingdom, the United States of America, the German Empire, and France, for each of the years 1907 and 1908, distinguishing separately the imports and exports of food, raw materials, and manufactures?

The following statements, which have been compiled from the official trade returns of the countries re- ferred to, give the information desired by my hon. Friend. I have to point out, however, that material differences exist in the methods of classification of imports and exports adopted by the respective countries, and that the results for particular categories are therefore not absolutely comparable.Statements showing for the years 1907 and 1908 the values of the imports for home consumption and exports of domestic produce into and from the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Germany and France, distinguishing separately the imports and exports of (A) food, (B) raw material, and (C) manufactures:—

asked the President of the Board of Trade, with reference to the recent outrage on the Midland Railway between Grindleford and Dore and Totley Stations, if he is aware that Mr. Blackwell, the assaulted person, pulled the communication chain two minutes after leaving Grindleford Station, and that the train travelled three and a half miles before stopping at Dore and Totley Station; that Mr. Blackwell was informed by the guard that the latter noticed that the brakes were on, but he thought that this was caused by the driver being pulled up by the signals being against him, so that Mr. Blackwell failed in his endeavour to communicate his need for help to the conductors of the train; that officials of the Midland Railway have called upon Mr. Blackwell, expressing to him their opinion that he was not attacked and that they could not believe any of his statements; and what action he intends to take in these circumstances for the protection of the travelling public?

The pulling of the communication chain causes an application of the brakes, and though the guard of a train may attribute this application to the driver having put on the brakes, the driver cannot have the same ground for not noticing that the communication apparatus has been used, and it is on the driver and not on the guard, that the duty of stopping the train lies. In the present case both the driver and guard state that the brakes were not applied until the train was leaving the tunnel, 1 mile 660 yards from Dore Station, and within a short distance from Dore West signal cabin. I am informed that the instructions issued to the company's drivers are to the effect that when he observes that the brake is being applied he must infer that the communication chain has been used, and must stop his train with as little delay as possible, but must exercise his, discretion in stopping, as it is undesirable to bring the train to a stand on a bridge or in a tunnel or other places of a similar character.

asked the President of the Local Government Board if the Finchley Urban District Council applied for leave to establish a distress committee during the past winter; if leave to do so was withheld; and, if so, for what reason?

I do not find that the Finchley Urban District Council have applied during the past winter for the establishment of a distress committee.

asked the President of the Local Government Board what was the total number of certificates of exemption from vaccination granted by courts of summary jurisdiction in 1907; and what was the total number of declarations against vaccination filed with registrars of births during 1908?

The total number of certificates of conscientious objection received by the vaccination officers in 1907 was 57,671. The Returns for 1908 are not quite complete, but the total number of certificates and statutory declarations with respect to conscientious objection received by the vaccination officers during that year may be stated approximately as 163,000.

asked the President of the Local Government Board why the claim for an old age pension on behalf of Hannah Smith, 3, Warder-street, New Wortley, Leeds, has been refused; and whether he is aware that she is a widow, aged 73; has never been convicted; has resided the last 22 years in England; that her sole income is 3s. 6d. a week, derived from a lodger, along with about 2s. a week for sewing; and that she has never received poor law relief during her lifetime?

In this case the pension officer appealed against the decision of the sub-committee allowing a pension, the ground of appeal being that Mrs. Smith had received poor relief together with her husband. The Board communicated with the poor law authorities, and were informed to the effect that relief had been supplied to the woman and her husband jointly for 3½ years up to August last, and that the guardians granted the relief with the full knowledge that it was a joint application. On this information, it appeared that the woman was disqualified.

asked the Home Secretary if he can say for the years 1906, 1907, and 1908 how many deaths occurred in London and in the provinces of children as the result of burns due to unguarded fireplaces; and if he can say for the years 1906, 1907, and 1908 how many deaths occurred in London and in the provinces of children as the result of overlaying?

A supplementary table giving the number of inquests held in cases where death is caused by burns and scalds was inserted in the Criminal Statistics for 1904. In that year, according to this table, the deaths from burns at unprotected grates and stoves numbered 988, while the deaths from scalds at unprotected grates and stoves numbered 134. These were distributed between the County of London and the rest of England and Wales, as follows:—

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he can state in detail the fees received by the inspectors of weights and measures in the county of Galway, and the amount expended by the Board of Trade in salaries to inspectors in that county?

The Inspector-General of the Royal Irish Constabulary informs me that fees to the amount of £158 16s. 9d. have been collected in county Galway by the ex-officio Inspectors of Weights and Measures during the current financial year. These inspectors are members of the Royal Irish Constabulary and no salaries are paid to them by the Board of Trade. After the payment of certain expenses, the balance of the fees is paid over, under statutory provisions and Treasury Regulations, to the Reward branch of the Constabulary Force Fund for the benefit of the force. Rewards are paid annually from the fund to the inspectors in recognition of their special qualifications.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland if he will furnish a statement showing the allocation among the rural district councils of Ireland of the money provided by section 18 (1) of The Labourers (Ireland) Act, 1906; and if he will say whether any portion of that money can be made available for reducing the rents on labourers' cottages?

I would refer the hon. Member to pages 307 to 311 of the Appendix to the Annual Report of the Local Government Board for Ireland for the year 1907–8, which has been presented to Parliament. The figures given there will be practically unaltered as regards the current year. It is expressly laid down by the section mentioned in the question that the money is to be applied towards the repayment of any loans outstanding in respect of cottages provided before 1st November, 1906.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland was the £114,000 voted by this House to improve the salaries of the national teachers of Ireland intended, as stated by him at the time, to benefit every duly qualified teacher in the service of the National Board; if so, how is it that a few head teachers of model schools have not yet received any share of the grant; will he state the cause of the delay, and take the necessary steps to have these few teachers immediately paid their portion; have the Commissioners of National Education been in communication with the Lords of His Majesty's Treasury respecting the claims of those teachers, or of any of them; have the Commissioners recommended that they should not be excluded from participating in the benefit of the grant; and whether he will see that the Treasury have this monetary grievance of these few teachers promptly redressed?

In the case of certain model school principal teachers who elected to remain under the system of payment in force prior to 1900, and who are consequently in receipt of supplemental salaries', no payment has been made, and in other cases a reduced payment has been made out of the grant of £114,000. Had the ordinary payments been made out of the grant in these cases it would have been necessary to ask the teachers to refund part of their supplemental salaries, as the rules fix a maximum limit of income for such teachers of £200 for males, and £150 for females. These teachers had profited substantially by electing to remain on the old system, and the Government therefore saw no reason for relaxing the rules in their favour.

asked what was the estimated population of Ireland on the 30th day of June, 1908, or the nearest date thereto?

The estimated population of Ireland on the 30th June, 1908, was 4,371,436.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury when it is proposed to pay the fees to clerks of pension committees and sub-committees in Ireland; whether he can explain the cause of the delay; and whether arrangements will be made for greater promptness in the matter in the future, as the clerks in the majority of cases are poor men who cannot afford to wait six months for their money?

In the majority of cases these fees have been paid. With regard to the causes of the delay which has occurred and to the future arrangements I would refer the hon. Member to my answer to a similar question put by the hon. Member for Kilkenny City on Monday, the 1st inst.

asked the Secretary of the Treasury whether, in view of the announcement made by the Board of Customs, and approved by the Treasury, that it is impracticable to treat the two sections of assistant clerks in the Statistical Office separately for the purpose of promotion, that from the Departmental point of view the two must form one body, and, other things being equal, the senior men cannot be ignored, he will state the reason why, in filling up the recent vacancies in the port service class, which is the next rank in the Customs clerical establishment above the assistant clerks, the whole of the 36 men in the old or senior section of the assistant clerks class in the Statistical Office have been ignored by the promotion over their heads to those vacancies of four men from the new or junior section of assistant clerks

Promotions from the class of assistant clerks to port clerkships are only made on the ground of special merit. Several of the senior assistant clerks have received such promotion in the past, but the remaining seniors, whose case has been fully considered from time to time, are, I am informed, not of sufficient merit to justify their selection for these positions.

asked the Lord Advocate if he is aware that the old soldier in Orkney, who was allowed to occupy with his wife a deserted cottage, was more in the position of a caretaker than a recipient of charity; and if he will bring the circumstances of this case under the notice of the Scotch Local Government Board to ascertain it it is possible to grant the pension awarded by the pension committee, as it cannot be said that the applicant has received Poor Law relief?

I cannot agree with the hon. Member that this old soldier was more in the position of a caretaker than a recipient of charity. He applied to the parochial board in 1895 to provide him with accommodation, as he had been turned out of his house. The minute of the parochial board granting him this bears that this was granted in consideration of the fact that there was no other way of dealing with the case. As I have already stated, the house was one provided for the accommodation of poor persons, and accordingly the right of occupation given to this applicant was just as much poor relief as if he had been given money to pay the rent of his house. I may add that during part of the period of his occupation of this house his wife, who was living with him, was in receipt of an allowance from the parish council.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will state when he will be able to answer the question put to him last Session as to the date when the graduated stamp duty formerly imposed on receipts was abolished, and the reason for its abolition?

The graduated Receipt Duty was abolished in 1853. As to the reasons for its discontinuance, I may refer my hon. Friend to the financial statement of the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, which he will find in "Hansard," Vol. 125 (3rd Series), page 1406.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, seeing that cooperative societies are exempt from income tax because the individual incomes of the shareholders rarely exceed £160 per annum, he will extend the same privilege to the trading profits of municipal corporations, seeing that the bulk of the ratepayers, for whose benefit the profits are made, have incomes below the income tax minimum?

I do not see my way to take the course which my hon. Friend suggests.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his attention has been directed to the fact that servants and dependants of vendors of land in Ireland, for which State money is being advanced, when engaged in the practice of duress for their employers, such as threats of eviction and seizures for arrears of unpayable rents, getting embarrassed tenants to sign purchase agreements at prices which the land can never repay, are allowed to act as the only witnesses of the agreements thus obtained, and thus to obtain public money for their employers; and whether he will take any steps to bring this practice to an end?

My right hon. Friend has asked me to answer this question. The rules of the Estates Commissioners with regard to the preparation of purchase agreements expressly provide that in no case shall the witness to the signature of the tenant be in the employment of the vendor.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he can state when the practice of addressing queries directly by post to small landholders whose claims are the subject of appeals under the Old Age Pensions Act, 1908, was adopted in all those cases by the Local Government Board for Ireland; whether this evidence on behalf of the claimants as respondents was previously obtained by that Board through the pension officers who were the appellants; whether he can state the total number of those appeals brought in the cases of small landholders in the county Meath and the number of same addressed directly by that Board and the number of same addressed by that Board through the pension officers respectively; whether in any or how many of those appeals from county Meath an officer of that Board visited the claimant; and whether he will request that Board in future to direct their queries in all cases to the claimant against whom an appeal is brought?

Information regarding claimants is obtained by the Local Government Board in the way that seems best in each case. The particulars asked for by the hon. Member could only be ascertained by a prolonged search, entailing an amount of work out of all proportion to their value. The answer to the last part of the question is in the negative.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he is aware that the only intimations received by many small landholders of the county Meath, whose claims under the Old Age Pensions Act were the subject of appeal, were the official notices, firstly, that an appeal had been brought, and secondly, that they were not entitled to a pension; and whether, seeing that in many of those cases no other communication was received from the Local Government Board for Ireland, and that those notices failed to state the time and manner in which the evidence of those claimants was to be presented to that Board, or the reasons for that Board's decision, respectively, he can state what grounds that Board have for stating that those claimants have had an opportunity of being heard, and that they understood the reasons for that Board's decisions t

The regulations have been strictly complied with in all cases. The notice informing a claimant that an appeal has been lodged states that his claim will be finally determined by the Local Government Board. On receipt of such notice it is open to him to submit to the Board, as many claimants' have done, any statement he may desire to make.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he is aware that dissatisfaction is felt by many subcommittees under the Old Age Pensions Act in Ireland by reason of the Local Government Board for Ireland not making known to those committees the reasons for their decisions on appeals or the character of the expert evidence by which that Board is guided; and whether he will request that Board in future, when stating that a claimant is not entitled to a pension, to add whether by reason of age, income, or other disqualification, and generally to adopt a less reticent attitude in their relations with those committees?

I have nothing to add to my reply to the question on this subject asked by the hon. Member on 25th instant.

asked the President of the Board of Education what has been the result of the change lately introduced into Welsh schools, in accordance with which infants are taught through the medium of Welsh in cases where Welsh is their mother tongue?

It has been the practice for some years past in many of the schools in Wales to utilise, as far as possible, the Welsh language when it is the mother tongue, particularly in the instruction of infants, and the practice has gra- dually extended as its educational value has become better appreciated. His Majesty's inspectors report that the results are entirely satisfactory, and tend to the development of greater intelligence and the speedier acquisition of English.

asked the President of the Board of Education if he will state what percentage of the teachers employed in public elementary schools during the year ending 31st July, 1908, were supplementary teachers, pupil teachers, and ex-pupil teachers respectively?

replied: Supplementary teachers, 10·5 per cent.; pupil teachers, 12·2 per cent.; ex-pupil teachers, 1·1 per cent. By ex-pupil teachers I have assumed my hon. Friend refers to provisional assistant teachers.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that the immediate result of enforcing the provisions of the Truck Act in Shetland has been to cause considerable distress among the knitters; and if he can see his way to appoint a trusted official of the Scotch Office to visit the islands and report what action, if any, it might be desirable to take?

As my hon. Friend is aware, the administration of the Truck Act in Shetland was recently under the consideration of the Truck Committee which reported in December last, and it was on their representation that steps were taken by the authorities to secure a stricter enforcement of the law. Although some inconvenience may have resulted, I would remind my hon. Friend that the provisions in question were passed for the protection of the workers in the industries affected. It is to be expected that any such inconvenience will prove only temporary, and in the circumstances an inquiry of the nature suggested by my hon. Friend would seem unnecessary.

asked the Lord Advocate if he is aware of the fact that several pensioners in the island of Eday, Orkney, have not yet received any pension, although their claims date, in some cases, from 1st and 20th January; and if he will state the cause of delay, and why two appeals in the same island have not yet been dealt with by the Local Government Board?

I have made inquiry, but in the absence of particulars, the Local Government Board are unable to identify the claimants referred to by my hon. Friend. The two appeals from Eday have been decided.

asked the Lord Advocate if he has received a photograph of the ruined cottage occupied by an old soldier, and the occupation of which has been held to debar from a pension; and if, in view of the facts disclosed, he will urge the Local Government Board to reconsider the matter.

I have received the photograph referred to. But I can see no ground on which I could urge the Local Government Board to reconsider the decision arrived at in the case referred to by my hon. Friend.

asked the Lord Advocate if he is aware of the fact that a husband and wife who have resided in the island of Eday for 72 years have been held to be disqualified for the pension because once during the last 20 years they paid a short visit to Canada to see their relatives; and if he can state on what authority such decision rests?

I am informed that the visit to Canada in question extended over seven years, and that in the circumstances there was no alternative, having regard to the terms of the Act and regulations, but to hold the applicants disqualified.

asked the hon. Member for South Somerset, as representing the President of the Board of Agriculture, whether he is aware that competent farmers are quite unable to obtain for live stock and agricultural produce the prices represented in the official returns as current; and whether, seeing that misleading or fictitious returns of prices are injurious to the agricultural industry, he will give this matter his attention and take steps to find more reliable sources of information, and endeavour to bring the Returns in future nearer to the actual prices of fair and market?

The prices published in the Weekly Return of Market Prices are collected by specially appointed market reporters, and are based on actual transactions. If my hon. and gallant Friend can furnish me with any information to the contrary I shall be glad to have inquiry made into the matter.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether the Admiralty experiences difficulty in finding full complements of men for battleships as they are launched; and, if so, whether such scarcity is due to the reduction in the number of men in the Navy by 2,490 in the last four years; and what steps are being taken to increase the strength?

The Admiralty experience no difficulty in finding full complements.

asked the Lord Advocate if he will state the number of uncertified deaths in each of the Highland crofting counties during each of the last five years?

The information desired by my hon. Friend is as follows:—