asked the Postmaster-General if he will state the numbers of the unestablished employés working in the Engineer-in-Chief's, the Controller of Stores, and the Controller of Factories Departments?

The numbers are:—

asked the Postmaster-General whether he is aware that a mail car leaves the village of Cushendall, a popular tourist resort in the county Antrim, every day at 2 o'clock p.m., for Larne, but makes no collection at Cushendall, although a collection is made at the village of Waterfoot; whether he is aware that by making a collection at Cushendall before the departure of the mail car for Larne at 2 p.m., the letters could be delivered in Belfast the same evening; and whether, in view of the inconvenience of the present arrangement and the ease with which the more convenient arrangement could be effected, he will order that the car leaving Cushendall at 2 p.m. shall make a collection of letters there immediately before its departure?

I am having inquiry made on the subject, and will communicate the result to my hon. Friend.

asked the Prime Minister whether he has received a copy of a resolution passed by the Co-operative Wholesale Society to the effect that in view of the increasing fraudulent sale of margarine for butter, this society, representing two and a-half millions of the wage-earning classes of the country, urge the Govern- ment to facilitate legislation which has for its object the suppression of this fraud; and whether, in view of the revelations of fraud made by the Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture which showed that, of test samples of butter taken in London and Liverpool, 80 per cent. were fraudulent imitations, he will, in the interest of the working classes, take into consideration the necessity of providing a remedy?

The administration of the Food and Drugs Act is vested in the hands of the local authorities, and I am not prepared to recommend the introduction of further legislation.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he can explain how he has arrived at the estimate that the additional yield of the new Licence Duties in the Finance Bill will amount to £2,600,000 in the present year?

The estimate referred to by the hon. Member was arrived at with reference to the existing numbers of licences, allowance being made for the possible effect of the new duties on these numbers. I need hardly point out that an estimate of this nature does not admit of precise calculation.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he can state if the estimate of £400,000 to £420,000 as the approximate yield in a full year of the new brewers' Licence Duty as proposed in the Finance Bill is approximately correct, the present yield being £4,808?

I am afraid I can add nothing to the answer I gave to the hon. Member on the 15th instant. His estimate appears to be based on the figures which I then gave him of the total number of barrels of beer brewed in the year 1907-8.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland if the attention of the police authorities at Enniskillen has been directed to offensive leaflets and books extensively circulated in Fermanagh by a person named William Dennis Wilson, of Crettingham, Suffolk, denouncing by name certain members of a religious sect living in the county, and containing disgusting and immoral expressions; and do the police authorities intend taking any steps to prevent the circulation of this literature by prosecuting William Dennis Wilson, or otherwise?

I am informed by the constabulary authorities that in July, 1908, a number of posters were put up and circulars distributed in Enniskillen in reference to a sect which was at that time holding meetings in the neighbourhood. As the police considered that the posters were of an indecent nature, they took them down and cautioned the bill poster. So far as the police are aware no posters on the subject have since been circulated. The police were advised that the case was not one in which they should institute a prosecution.

asked the Chief Secretary whether he can state the number of applications for a two-years' course of training, commencing in September next, received by the principal of St. Patrick's Training College, Drumcondra, Dublin, the number of those applicants who passed in first division, the number who passed in second division, and how many of the second and third divisions will be called to a two-years' course of training?

The Commissioners of National Education inform me that the numbers of applicants for the next two-years' course of training put forward for the last King's Scholarship examination by the authorities of St. Patrick's Training College, Drumcondra, was 238. Sixty-eight passed in the first division and 57 in the second division. In addition to these, 23 intermediate and university students qualified for admission to the college under the conditions prescribed by the Commissioners' rules. The selection of students from among the eligible candidates is a matter which rests with the authorities of the college, and the Commissioners cannot consequently furnish the information asked for in the last portion of the question.

asked the Chief Secretary whether he can state if the Estates Commissioners have acquired the untenanted lands, about 380 acres, on the Lindsay Crosby estate at Ardfert, North Kerry, for the enlargement of uneconomic holdings and giving allotments to labourers, and, if not, why not; and whether any uneconomic holding on Mr. Crosby's estate has been enlarged?

The Estates Commissioners inform me that these lands are not being sold to them. They have been sold by the owner as parcels under section 2 of the Irish Land Act, 1903, as amended by section 19 of the Labourers Act, 1906. The purchasers include 11 labourers, 6 sons of tenants, and 1 occupier of a holding not exceeding £5 in rateable value.