asked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether his attention has been directed to the fact that in the South Africa Bill, now under consideration in the House of Commons, eligibility for election to the Parliament to be established in South Africa by this Bill is limited to persons of European descent; and whether, having regard to its ambiguity and the difficulties likely to arise in its construction, steps will be taken to define the term and incorporate the definition in the South Africa Bill?

My attention has been drawn to this provision, and I gave some information on the subject in reply to a similar question on 12th August. It is not proposed to make any amendment.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for India if he will state how many officers are now serving in the Indian Army who have had more than two years' service in the British Army before their transfer to the Indian service?

The information desired by the hon. Member is not available in the India Office, and its extraction from service records in India would be a matter of much labour. The Secretary of State sees no sufficient reason at present to call for the figures.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether the regulations proposed by the War Office with regard to the firing from the Grain Battery are now under consideration by the Board of Trade; in what way and at what time persons affected by the regulations will have an opportunity of being heard; and whether representations in favour of the sanctioning of such regulations by the Board of Trade have been received by that Board from the War Office?

Since the reply to the hon. Member's question on the same subject on 9th July I have received no communication from the War Department with regard to the bye-laws, and I am not yet in a position to say whether it will be necessary to have a public inquiry for the hearing of objections.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will introduce a Bill to improve the pensions to the dependants of police officers killed in the execution of their duty?

The draft Bill is ready, but I am adding one or two other provisions, which are now under consideration.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will state the number of assaults on warders and wardresses that have taken place in His Majesty's prisons during this year to the present date; how many have been made by male and female prisoners respectively; and what punishments have been inflicted upon those guilty of such assaults, distinguishing between those inflicted upon male and female prisoners respectively?

The Annual Report of the Prison Commissioners gives the number of cases of violence in prison, including assaults on officers, for each year. If the hon. Member will refer to appendix 6 of the Report for any year he will find the number of such offences committed in each prison during the year by males and females respectively. The total number of prisoners guilty of such acts of violence during the year ended 31st March last was 947 males and 117 females. These figures will appear in the Report for that year, which will be published shortly. The statistics do not give the punishment awarded for each individual offence except in the cases of prisoners sentenced to corporal punishment for violent assaults on officers; it would involve very serious clerical labour to make nominal lists showing the punishment in each case, and I fear that I cannot ask the hard-worked prison staff to undertake this additional task.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether occupiers of factories and workshops, permitted to vary the overtime period so that it may fall either before or after ordinary hours, may keep their employés at work till 10 p.m. one day and restart them at 6 a.m. on the following day; whether, if this be so, he will state if the Factory Department considers that Section 60, Sub-section (4), of the Factory and Workshop Act, 1901, means that an overtime notice must be sent to the inspector only after the overtime has been worked; if these are now the interpretations placed on Sections 49 and 60 by the Factory Department, would he state when the Department came to its present views regarding these sections; and whether he proposes, when he next considers an Amendment to the Factory and Workshop Law, to alter them so as to secure an adequate rest for workpeople between two days' labour, and a notice of intention to work overtime being sent to the inspector in order that, should he deem it advisable, he could visit the factory during the overtime period?

The terms of the statute would allow an occupier to act in the manner suggested in the first para- graph of the question, but I have never heard of such a thing being done. I do not quite understand the point raised by the hon. Member in the second paragraph. The requirements of Section 60 (4) is that the overtime notice must be sent to the inspector not later than eight p.m. on the day on which the overtime is worked; the overtime may be worked either in the morning or from six to eight, or from seven to nine, or from eight to ten in the evening. It is only in the last case that the notice has to be sent before overtime begins; and in very few instances, if any, would a notice sent at eight reach the inspector in time to enable him to inspect during the overtime. The interpretation placed upon Section 49 by the Department has, I am informed, frequently been acted on in the past; and no evidence of any abuse has come to the notice of the Department. I am afraid that the suggestion to amend the law so as to require the overtime notice to be sent so as to reach the inspector in time to enable him to visit during the overtime would present difficulties; it would in many cases mean that the notice would have to be sent on the previous day, whereas a large proportion of the overtime actually worked is on occasions of sudden pressure, of which no long notice could be given. I will, however, note the hon. Member's suggestions, and when an opportunity occurs will consider whether the law can be so amended as to prevent even a possibility of the overtime privilege being abused.

asked the Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture (Ireland) whether the Report of the Departmental Committee of the Board of Agriculture on Epizootic Abortion will be immediately brought under the notice of the agricultural instructors appointed by county committees in Ireland; whether he is aware that the agricultural instructor of the county Waterford estimates the loss by this disease at £8,000 annually, and that other competent persons estimate it at double that figure; whether he will consider the advisability of making this disease notifiable, and of prohibiting the sale of any cattle suffering from it except for the purpose of slaughter?

The Preliminary Report of the Departmental Committee of the Board of Agriculture on Epizootic Abortion is at present being considered by the Department. The Committee carrying out the experiments do not consider their investigations sufficiently advanced to admit of making any recommendations regarding measures which might usefully be taken for the prevention of this disease. The Department are aware that the agricultural instructor for county Waterford estimates the loss from epizootic abortion at £8,000 per annum, and that other persons in the county estimate it at double that figure. As soon as the special Report promised by the Committee is published a revised leaflet on the subject will be issued by the Department, and will be placed in the hands of every instructor in Ireland for distribution among farmers. The question of including epizootic abortion as a scheduled disease under the Diseases of Animals Acts will depend on the recommendations contained in the Final Report of the Committee.

asked the Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture (Ireland) whether his attention has been drawn to the fact that immense quantities of herrings have, within the last few days, been caught in Dublin Bay, but have had to be thrown back into the sea outside Howth Harbour owing to the impossibility of finding a market for them; whether the Department would be willing to help in preventing such results of the labours of the fishermen by establishing or aiding in the establishment of a curing station at Howth, as has been done by the Congested Districts Board on the West Coast; and whether, if necessary, an inquiry will be held at once with a view to determining the possibility of such action in the immediate future?

The Department are aware that a couple of boats at Howth on one occasion recently threw their herrings overboard rather than accept the prices offered. Such exceptional incidents occur occasionally at all summer herring stations, particularly when fish arrive in port in hot weather too late for the markets. It is not certain that the class of herring now being landed at Howth is suitable for curing. The Department had at the beginning of the season made arrangements to test this, and offered the services of an expert curer free; the fish then being caught were certainly unfit for profitable curing, and as the very hot weather had not then set in the fresh fish market offered the most suitable outlet. The Depart- ment are prepared and intend to assist in making the experiment of curing, if possible, before the season closes.

asked the President of the Local Government Board whether it is proposed that an employment bureau opened at 14, Harrow-road shall serve the entire areas of Westminster, Paddington, and Marylebone; and whether, seeing that the bureau is about three mlies from the southern border of Westminster, a working-class district, it is intended that one bureau shall suffice for a combined area which extends nearly five miles, from the north-western corner of the county of London to the River Thames, is over eight square miles in extent, and contains about 350,000 inhabitants?

The areas of Westminster, Paddington and St. Marylebone are served by five branches of the Metropolitan Employment Exchanges, namely:—

1. The St. Marylebone and Westminster district branch, 14, Harrow-road;

2. The Paddington sub office, 303, Harrow-road;

3. The Fulham and District branch, 2, Jordan-place, Walham Green;

4. The Kensington and Hammersmith district branch, 20, Queen-street, Hammersmith; and

5. The City of London office, 78, Temple Chambers, E.C.

There is also an employment exchange in the City of Westminster under the control of the City Council. I understand that, in view of the possible transfer of the metropolitan employment exchanges to the Board of Trade under the Labour Exchanges Bill, the Central (Unemployed) Body for London do not propose to establish any additional employment exchanges at present.

asked the President of the Local Government Board if he could state the number of houses and tenements now unoccupied in each of the Metropolitan boroughs and in Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Portsmouth, Sheffield, and Glasgow?

The following table gives the particulars I have obtained on this subject. In some cases the figures are approximate only, and usually houses and tenements in respect of which the payment of rates is compounded for are not included, as information with regard to them was not available:—

Name of Borough.				Number of unoccupied houses and tenements.
Battersea	…	…	…	2,064
Bermondsey	…	…	…	426
Bethnal Green	…	…	…	1,054
Camberwell.	…	…	…	3,911
Chelsea	…	…	…	652
Deptford	…	…	…	1,090
Pinsbury	…	…	…	1,650
Fulham	…	…	…	1,047
Greenwich	…	…	…	1,212
Hackney	…	…	…	2,017
Hammersmith	…	…	…	1,213
Hampstead	…	…	…	956
Holborn	…	…	…	789
Islington	…	…	…	2,554
Kensington	…	…	…	1,989
Lambeth	…	…	…	3,500
Lewisham	…	…	…	3,732
Paddington	…	…	…	2,000
Poplar	…	…	…	1,321
St. Marylebone	…	…	…	1,324
St. Pancras	…	…	…	1,157
Shoreditch	…	…	…	1,296
Stepney	…	…	…	2,684
Stoke Newington	…	…	…	449
Westminster	…	…	…	2,175
Woolwich	…	…	…	1,276
Birmingham	…	…	…	8,461
Bristol	…	…	…	4,850
Leeds	…	…	…	6,875
Liverpool	…	…	…	6,900
Manchester	…	…	…	9,928
Portsmouth	…	…	…	1,652
Sheffield	…	…	…	4,907
Glasgow	…	…	…	17,000

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if he will explain why the tenants on the Bingham estate, situate at Crimlin, near Castlebar, county Mayo, are charged by the Congested Districts Board the old rent, although the game and mineral rights which were promised them have been withheld by the Board?

The tenants on the Crimlin section of the Bingham estate have only been charged interest at 3½ per cent, on the purchase price of their re-arranged holdings since 1st November, 1906, in accordance with their new contracts of tenancy and undertakings to purchase. Twenty-seven of these tenants were given the opportunity to sign their purchase agreements on 3rd July. Of these 22 refused to sign the agreements, and were informed by the Congested Districts Board that they would be charged the full rent reserved under their contracts of tenancy, less such payments for interest on the purchase money as have been made by them. After conference with the tenants, it was arranged that the sporting rights on this section of the estate should be reserved and vested in trustees for the benefit of the tenants. This will be done as soon as the holdings are vested in the tenants by the Land Commission. No promise of mineral rights was or could be made, as all such rights are vested in the Land Commission.

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether the estate of Newrath, Kells, county Meath, was offered for sale to the Estates Commissioners; if they made an offer for it which was accepted; and whether the purchase fell through because of defective title or insufficient price?

The Estates Commissioners inform me that the lands of Newrath were in the first instance included in the lands which the owners proposed to sell to them. The owners, however, subsequently withdrew these lands from the proceedings. The title was not investigated.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his attention has been called to the case of motor vehicle contractors who hold unexpired contracts with private customers to supply motor landaulettes, etc., and who under the terms of such contracts are unable to charge the amount of the petrol tax to their customers; and will he make a special provision whereby the customer and actual user of the petrol may be made to bear the tax, or otherwise give the benefit of the rebate in such cases as on commercial vehicles?

also asked the Chancellor whether his attention has been called to the effect of the petrol tax in the case of contracts with Government Departments; is he aware that an the case of one firm of contractors, holding a mail contract with the Post Office, the petrol tax will amount to about £580 per annum; and will he make special provision to enable any company or firm supplying motor vehicles to a Government Department to charge the amount of such tax to the Department concerned?

These two questions raise practically the same point, namely, whether a person who has entered into a contract for the supply of goods before the passing of the Finance Act can increase the contract price of the goods so as to enable him to recover from the person with whom he contracts, any increase of price by reason of a duty being imposed upon the goods. This is a matter which is already provided for in a general enactment in Section 10 of the Finance Act, 1901, as amended by Section 7 of the Finance Act, 1902, and, upon the assumption that there is nothing exceptional in the terms of the contract to which my hon. Friend refers, no special provision is required in the Finance Bill by reason of the imposition of the new duty on motor spirit.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if the increased Stamp Duties under Part V. of the Finance Bill are now in force; if so, when they came into force; and, if not, at what date will they become payable?

The new Stamp Duties will take effect when the Royal Assent is given to the Finance Bill.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if the proposed valuation of land in Ireland under the Finance Bill will be carried on by the present Department of the Commissioner of Valuation in Ireland?

It is proposed that the Commissioner of Valuation in Ireland shall conduct the valuation work in that country on behalf of the Commissioners of Inland Revenue.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, in view of the facts that Mr. Justice Buckley, in the case of the Great Western Railway Company v. Blades, in 1901, said that within the decision in the case of the Glasgow Corporation v. Farie, in 1888, the same clay may be a mineral in one district and not in another, and that both these cases are cited in that of the Great Western Railway Company v. the Carpalla United China Clay Company, Limited, to which the Government have referred for the general meaning of the word mineral, and that no common brick clay has, since 1888, been held to be a mineral for the purpose of receiving compensation under the Railway Clauses Consolidation Act of 1845, he will specifically declare common brick clay not to be a mineral for the purposes of the Finance Bill?

There is no doubt that brick clay is a mineral in the ordinary acceptation of the term, and it is not proposed in the Finance Bill to make any exception in favour of brick clay. The cases referred to do not affect the general question. They merely decide that, for the purpose of undertakings for which land is acquired under the Railways Clauses Consolidation Act or the Waterworks Clauses Consolidation Act, brick clay forming the surface of the earth is to be treated as land to be acquired under the ordinary provisions of those Acts, and not as minerals, which are subject to special provisions.