asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he is aware that the yard craftsmen are often called upon to work continuously from 12 to 16 hours per day, and that the scale of pay at the Royal Victoria Yard is 1s. 8d. per day for ordinary seamen, 2s. 2d. per day for A.B. seamen, and 2s. 5d. per day for stokers, with 1s. 6d. per day victualling allowance to each class of men; and whether he will concede to these men the London rate of wages for seamen, and overtime for all hours worked in excess of those worked by the workmen employed at the Royal Victoria Yard?

The matter is receiving the immediate consideration of the Board.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether any decision has been arrived at with regard to the request that no chief petty or non-commissioned officer shall be disrated until tried and sentenced by a court-martial; and that such tribunal shall have upon it an officer possessing technical knowledge of the duties of the officer charged?

A Departmental Committee recently recommended that no change should be made in the existing practice; and at a deputation which I received in July last I explained that I could not hold out any hope that the Admiralty would take any steps to reconsider their attitude in this matter.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether His Majesty's ship "Terrible" and several minor ships undergoing repairs or general outfit are several weeks behind the time estimated for the completion for active service, because it was found that stocks drawn from the stores and not replaced had been so depleted that spare parts of machinery necessary and parts of the outfit had to be manufactured before such vessel could proceed to sea; and whether stocks and stores in the Government dockyards have been reduced during the last two years by £2,319,000?

The answer to the first part of the hon. Member's question is in the negative. The figure quoted in the last part of the question represents the extent to which stores were utilised without replacement during the two years ended 31st March, 1908. The stores thus used mainly became available as the result of the closing or reduction of certain naval establishments abroad, and of placing ships on the ineffective list.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he is aware that the circular letter 104, 2nd September, 1907 (N. 7032/1907), has prejudiced the position of the stoker petty officer, who is now frequently called upon to undertake the duties of chief stoker without any extra remuneration; whether he is aware that, in such cases as H.M.S. "Vulcan," the original complement of 7 chief stokers and 12 stoker petty officers has been replaced by a complement of 3 chief stokers and 16 stoker petty officers; and whether he will take steps to remedy this alleged grievance?

In answer to the first part of the question, I am not aware that the position of the stoker petty officer has been in any way prejudiced by his being called upon to take charge of small boiler rooms for which duty he should be quite competent under the new system of training. As regards the "Vulcan," her original complement when attached to the Mediterranean fleet included 7 chief stokers and 12 stoker petty officers. Her complement as parent ship for submarines is entirely different and the numbers of chief stokers and stoker petty officers are 4 and 11 respectively. The answer to the third part of the question is in the negative—no cause for grievance being recognised.

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he can explain the reason for the delay on the part of the Treasury in paying the claims of the clerks of the different pension committees and sub-committees in Ireland under the Old Age Pension Act; and whether he is aware that there have been no payments made in the county Kilkenny to the clerks appointed under the Act?

In answer to the first part of the question, 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 ultimo. The clerks of the Kilkenny committee and sub-committee, to whom the second part of the question relates, have now been paid.

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if one or other of the two chief inspectors of national schools may, if so disposed, refuse to certify for the annual salary increments of any of the 30 or so subordinate inspectors; that he need give no reason for such refusal, even though it should refer not to one year alone, but be repeated over several years in succession; have there been some cases of this kind lately; whether applications from inspectors affected to bring complaints before the Board have been disregarded; and whether inspectors are at liberty to bring such treatment under the notice of any particular commissioner or to ventilate it in the Press, in case the same is not brought before the Board itself by the officials responsible?

An annual increment of salary cannot be allowed to a civil servant without a certificate from his immediate superior that his conduct during the past year has been approved. For this purpose the chief inspectors are recognised by the Commissioners of National Education as the immediate superiors of the inspectors generally. A chief inspector, if he refuses his certificate, must satisfy the Commissioners that he has valid grounds for doing so. Certificates have been refused or deferred in some cases in recent years owing to unsatisfactory discharge of duty on the part of individual inspectors. All complaints of inspectors are submitted to the Board or to the Resident Commissioner. Inspectors are not at liberty to communicated with the Commissioners personally on any business connected with their position or to ventilate their cases in the public Press.

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he can state if the Estates Commissioners or the Congested Districts Board have received an application from Mrs. Katherine O'Boyle, widow, to be reinstated as an evicted tenant on Sir Roger Palmer's estate, near Killala, county Mayo, from which she was evicted about 17 years ago; whether she is to be granted a holding; and, if not, can he ascertain the reason why?

The Estates Commissioners have received an application from Mrs. Boyle for reinstatement in a holding at one time occupied by her late husband, and now in the occupation of another tenant. The Commissioners have decided to take no action in the matter.

asked what progress has been made in the sale of the Crossley estate, townlands of Tolvin and Tullyodonnel, Cookstown union, county Tyrone, to the tenants; and whether on it any evictions have taken place lately?

The Estates Commissioners have had a further inspection made of this estate and hope at an early date to be in a position to make an offer to the Land Judge under section 7 of the Act of 1903.

asked the number of persons convicted in Ireland of indictable offences in 1907, the number of convictions per cent, of such offences known to the police in that year, and the number and percentage of such offences for which no persons were made amenable?

The number of persons convicted in Ireland during 1907 for indictable offences was 4,156. The number of such offences committed during the year, so far as is known to the police, was 9,418. These figures are not, however, strictly comparable; many of the convictions in 1907 were for offences committed in 1906, and many persons who were apprehended in 1907 were not tried till 1908. It is not possible to segregate the cases belonging to each year as the annual Returns of proceedings at Assizes and Quarter Sessions do not show the dates of the offences. The percentage of convictions to offences cannot therefore be stated; 6,653 persons were proceeded against for indictable offences in 1907. The results of the proceedings as recorded by the police were as follows: Discharged, 596; tried summarily and acquitted, 1,123; tried summarily and convicted, 2,813; committed for trial, 2,095; otherwise disposed of, 26.

asked the President of the Local Government Board whether he will amend the Waterworks Clauses Acts so that an urban district council whose water supply is purchased in bulk from another urban district would be able to enforce conditions as to size of flushing cisterns, etc., in existing houses that would prevent waste or misuse, and so protect the ratepayer from unnecessary expense?

I have not at present in contemplation the amendment of the Waterworks Clauses Acts with the object suggested.