asked the Secretary to the Treasury what is the total amount of money provided from Imperial funds for fishery research through English Committees and Irish or Scottish boards; and what percentage of this total reaches the county of Cumberland?

As regards England, no payment is made from Imperial funds to the local fisheries committees constituted under the Sea Fisheries Regulation Act, 1888; the expenses of such committees, if formed, become a statutory charge on the localities adopting the Act. A grant of £1,000 per annum is made to the Marine Biological Association, in addition to the share which they administer of the grant in aid of the International Investigation of the North Sea. A sum of £770 is voted in subhead F of the Vote for the Scottish Fishery Board for scientific investigation. This sum is additional to the funds expended by that Board in carrying out their share of the International Investigation of the North Sea. No sum is specifically allocated in Ireland for scientific fishery research; but of the provision of £10,000 per annum allocated by the Agriculture and Technical Instruction (Ireland) Act from the endowment of the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Sea Fisheries, a part is expended by that Department on research work. The sum so expended in 1908–9 was £841, exclusive of the expenditure on the fishery cruiser "Helga," which is occasionally employed on research work. No portion of the above sums is expended directly for the benefit of the county of Cumberland.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury if pension officers in the county of Kerry have been directed to calculate as portion of the means of claimants for old age pensions all lands and stock when same have been assigned on marriage, or otherwise, to one of the children since the passing of the Pension Act; and whether he is aware of the assurances given by the representatives of the Irish Government?

In answer to the first part of the question, no general instructions have been issued to pension officers on this subject. From time to time pension officers have sought directions on specific cases of this kind, which have been considered upon their merits. I am not aware of any assurances of the Irish Government in the sense suggested by the question.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury if he is prepared to make grants in support of fishery investigations on the Lancashire and Cumberland coast, similar to those made for Scottish and Irish administration and investigation, and remedy the condition of affairs which imposes the whole expense of sea fisheries on the Cumberland coast on local rates, whilst on the other side of the Solway Imperial funds are available?

I do not see any sufficient reason in present circumstances for initiating a change of the policy adopted by Parliament in the Sea Fisheries Act. 1888, under which local authorities in Eng land and Wales are empowered to rate themselves for the purposes of the Act.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what quantity of spirits, subject to the new duty of 3s. 9d. per gallon, was taken out of bond in Ireland this year during the month of July, and what quantity of the same class of spirits was taken out for the corresponding month of last year; and whether he can state the quantity of Irish distilled whisky taken out of bond during the month of July last year and this year, respectively?

The approximate quantity of spirits, subject to the new duty of 3s. 9d. per gallon, that was duty-paid in Ireland during the month of July, 1909, was 270,000 proof gallons; and the approximate quantity of similar spirits duty-paid during July, 190S, was 540,000 proof gallons. Information as to the quantity of Irish distilled whisky taken out of bond cannot be given, as whisky is not shown in the Revenue Accounts separately from other British spirits.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will state the amount of duty paid on spirits, beer, and wine respectively during the month of July in the years 1907, 1908, and 1909.

Statement of the amount of duty paid on spirits, bear and wine respectively during the month of July in the years 1907, 1908, and 1909:—

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he is aware that Mr. Hugh Gribben, of Bellaughley, Mayobridge, county Down, and four other tenants on the Batt estate of Staniland and Essell, have sustained heavy losses since 1882 by being excluded from the Land Courts owing to the name of the agent of the estate trustees being joined with his in the receipt; whether he is aware that the alteration in the receipt was made without the tenants' consent; whether he can state by what process of law William James Watson, the agent, became co-tenant with Peter Gribben; whether the tenant is thereby precluded from having a fair rent fixed; and whether he will accept an Amendment to the Land Bill protecting tenants in such cases?

An application to fix a fair rent of a holding on the estate of R. N. Batt, county Down, was served on the Land Commission in November, 1881, on behalf of Hugh, Peter and Thomas Gribben, who were described in the originating notice as tenants. Having been twice adjourned by the court, the application was finally "struck out" in court on consent, the record having in the meantime been amended by order of the Court by striking out the name of Thomas Gribben as tenant and inserting the name of William James Watson as tenant instead of Hugh Gribben. In April, 1898, application to fix fair rent for a second statutory term was received on behalf of the tenants, but was dismissed by order of the Sub-Commission on the ground that a judicial rent had not been previously fixed upon the holding and that the application should have been one to fix a fair rent for a first statutory term. The name of Mr. William J. Watson appears on the record on each occasion as agent of the estate. The Land Commission have no further information with regard to the points raised in the question. Their records do not appear toindicate that there is anything in the case calling for legislation.

asked the Chief Secretary if he will state whether the Estates Commissioners, as a result of their communications with Mr. William Rochfort, agent of the Hyde estate, county Cork, have succeeded in inducing him to institute formal proceedings for the sale to the Commissioners of the holding formerly occupied by William Bulman for the purpose of the reinstatement of the evicted tenant?

Proceedings for the sale of the holding formerly occupied by William Bulman have not yet been instituted, but the matter is engaging the attention of the Estates Commissioners.

asked the Chief Secretary whether he is aware that assistant masters and mistresses in Irish secondary schools can be, and in practice are, dismissed without notice and without cause assigned at the pleasure of the manager, to whom alone all the school grants are paid unconditionally, assistants having no appeal; and whether, in view of the fact that secondary schools in Ireland received from the Intermediate Board in the school year 1907–8 grants amounting to £50,000, and in the same year 290 secondary schools received from the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction £27,000, he will secure some redress for those teachers from arbitrary dismissal?

As I have already stated in reply to a question asked by the hon. Member for the St. Patrick's Division on 27th July last, I have no power to interfere in any way with the relations between assistant teachers in secondary schools and the heads of such schools.

asked the Postmaster-General if he will state the number of days' acting duties performed by Mr. Gosens before he was recommended for promotion in the E. C. section; and also the highest total number performed by any sorter at present on the acting list in that section?

Mr. Cosens bad acted as overseer for prolonged periods since February, 1908. As I have already explained to my hon. Friend, promotion is not governed by position on the acting list.

asked the Postmaster-General whether he is aware that the members of the Tracers' Association attached to the Inland Telegraph Branch, Accountant General's Department, do not choose their periods of annual leave according to their position on the seniority list, but according to their position on th pay-sheet; and if he can state why the tracers are receiving different treatment in this respect as compared with other classes in the service?

The tracers attached to the Inland Telegraph Branch of the Accountant General's Department choose their annual leave according to their position in their class. This is the-general practice.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether the delay in delivering the two destroyers ordered in the financial year 1905–6 arises from change in design ordered by the Admiralty or from delays en the part of the contractors; and, in the latter case, whether he will state the names of the contractors, and whether they have previously built destroyers for the Navy?

As the question of what penalties, if any, for late delivery has yet to be decided for these two destroyers, a complete and definite answer cannot be given at the present moment; but it must be borne in mind that in these and other similar instances, where contracts are entered into to advance beyond the ordinary speeds of a particular type, delays are likely to occur occasionally, as the experience of our own and foreign navies shows. Both of the firms concerned have large experience and knowledge of the problems dealt with.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if it is the fact that the stipendiary at Liverpool has sentenced the Rev. George Wise to four months' imprisonment in the second class, and if the Home Secretary will change this sentence into one of imprisonment in the first class?

The question whether Mr. Wise should be placed in the first or the second division was one for the decision of the stipendiary. I understand that an application on the subject was made to him, and that, after full consideration, he decided not to make an order for Mr. Wise to be placed in the first division. I cannot interfere with that decision; but I may say that Mr. Wise can secure his own release by entering into a recognisance of good behaviour for 12 months.

asked the hon. Member for South Somerset, as representing the President of the Board of Agriculture, if he can give the number of cases of anthrax in horses, cattle, sheep, and pigs respectively, reported in 1906, 1907, and 1908; and how many deaths occurred through these cases in human beings?

The following table gives the information for which the hon. Member asks. Number of animals reported as attacked with anthrax in Great Britain in the years 1906, 1907, and 1908:—

asked the President of the Local Government Board whether, having regard to the passage in the Report of Dr. Buchanan on the work in relation to the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts, contained in a supplement to the Thirty-seventh Annual Report of the Board, 1907–8, he will be prepared to sanction the appointment of Mr. E. W. Pollard, of Ryde, as public analyst for the administrative county of the Isle of Wight; and, if not, will he state the objections to the confirmation of such appointment?

The Local Government Board have objected to Mr. Pollard's appointment, firstly, on the ground of his being engaged in a trade or business connected with the sale of drugs in the county, and secondly, because they are not satisfied of his competent skill in and knowledge of analytical chemistry. A proposal has been made to meet the first objection; but this does not touch the second, and in the circumstances I do not feel able to approve of the appointment. The objections are in no way affected by the passage referred to in Dr. Buchanan's Report.

asked the President of the Local Government Board whether he will issue an Order to compel all motors to carry transparent lights to show the number of the car?

At the time when the Regulations under the Motor Car Ac, 1903, were in course of preparation, this question was considered. Experiments which were made at the time with transparent illuminated numbers were not very satisfactory. As a result the Order was so framed as to leave the use of transparencies optional. I do not find that they are much used at present, and in the absence of further evidence I should hesitate to make their use compulsory.

asked the President of the Board of Education whether he is aware that his Department, in a letter dated 9th April, 1881, directed the School Board for London to estimate the number of children requiring school places in any district by taking the sum total of the children of the elementary school class actually enumerated by the School Board visitors at their annual scheduling of the child population, and to deduct 12½ per cent., according to the rule adopted by the Education Department; whether this practice is still followed by the Board of Education and the local education authority; and, if not, what alterations have been made, and what are the reasons for them?

The arrangement for ascertaining the number of school places required in London, which was arrived at between the School Board for London and the Education Department in 1881, was as follows:—From the number of children between the ages of three and thirteen scheduled by the School Board visitors a deduction of 121 per cent, was made, and to the figure thus obtained the actual number of children over thirteen years of age attending Elementary Schools was added. By the method now adopted by the London County Council, from the number of children scheduled between three and fourteen years of age a deduction of 14 per cent, is made, and from the figure so obtained the actual number of children over 14 years of age attending Public Elementary Schools is added. The reasons for increasing the, deduction from 12½ per cent, to 14 per cent, were understood to be that the scheduled figures include a considerable number of children, (a) who are properly accommodated in Special Schools for the Blind, Deaf, and Defective, and (b) who are being educated in Secondary Schools. While general principles of this character are obviously of assistance to the Board in estimating the amount of accommodation required, it has been the practice of the Board for a considerable number of years past to consider questions of school accommodation with reference to the particular circumstances of the district rather than according to any statistical rules which have not the same application in all parts of London.