asked how many applications for small holdings and allotments have been made in South Derbyshire under the statute of last year, and the number of acres applied for; what seeps the county council of Derbyshire have taken to give effect to these applications; and if the Board of Agriculture has been in communication with the Derbyshire County Council with a view of expediting the operation of the Act?

Fifty-four applications for 832 acres have been received. Thirty-seven of these were provisionally approved, and the applicants were written to in May and asked if they still desired land. Excluding those who have acquired small holdings by private arrangement and those who have not replied to the inquiry of the county council, there are now 13 suitable applicants for whom the council are prepared to find 154 acres. The council have for some time past had under consideration the purchase of a farm of 324 acres, but they decided recently not to proceed with the purchase owing to the inadequacy of the water supply. They are, however, endeavouring to obtain land elsewhere. We are in continuous communication with the council as to the steps to be taken to satisfy the demand.

asked. the Home Secretary whether, seeing that under Section (25) of The Licensing Act, 1902, the secretary of every registered club has to annually fill up a return giving, amongst other particulars, the number of members of the club, that the number of members so returned has to be recorded on the register, and that the register of clubs in each district therefore contains the number of the members of clubs in which intoxicating liquor is supplied, he will have a Return prepared showing the figure of the membership of these clubs in England and Wales in each year since The Licensing Act, 1902, came into operation; and whether he will arrange for the statistics of the membership of these clubs being included in future in the annual volume of licensing statistics?

The question of collecting and publishing in the licensing statistics figures as to the membership of registered clubs has often been considered, but it has been thought that to do so would serve no useful purpose at all commensurate with the trouble and expense involved. I have again considered the matter, but see no reason to disagree with previous decisions.

asked the Home Secretary if his attention has been called to the increased number of persons employed by the automobile associations as road patrols between 1st July, 1907, and 1st July, 1909; and what steps does he propose to take, by legislation or otherwise, to preserve the control of the roads in the hands of the police?

The Commissioner of Police reports that, as regards the-Metropolitan area, there is no noticeable-increase in the number of scouts employed. There can be no doubt that the scouts hamper the police in carrying out the duties which Parliament has imposed on them, and, if the evil continues, it may become necessary for Parliament to intervene for their protection.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies if he can state whether there were any deaths in Chaguanas, Trinidad, in the year 1908, due to privation; and, if so, the names of such persons so dying?

All the evidence before the Secretary of State goes to show that no case of death from privation occurred among residents or labourers in the district during the year 1908, and that such deaths are almost unknown in the Colony, as the necessaries of life are very cheap, and there is an efficient system of relief for those who are found to be actually destitute. The district medical officer of Chaguanas has found the record of one death in 1908 which might be attributed to privation. It is that of a free Indian named Biharri. He was a vagrant from some other district, and died suddenly while begging at a house in Longdenville.

asked the Irish Chief Secretary whether some of the tenants on the estate of Colonel Alexander, Garrestown, county Dublin, have refused to purchase their holdings until some provision is made to keep the land arterially drained; whether the Estates Commissioners have considered the matter; and what steps they propose to take?

The Estates Commissioners inform me that the tenants of ten holdings on this estate have not yet entered into purchase agreements for various reasons. The question of arterial drainage, to which the hon. Member refers, is at present under consideration.

asked the Chief Secretary whether the Inspector-General of the Royal Irish Constabulary has the same power to compel pensioners from the force to discharge their debts as he has over men in the service; and whether the authorities can compel a pensioner who has contracted union hospital debts to pay them?

The Inspector-General has no power over constabulary pensioners as regards the payment of their debts. If a pensioner becomes chargeable to the rates as a pauper inmate of a workhouse the charge for his maintenance is deducted from his pension. If he enters a workhouse hospital as an ordinary patient the hospital charges are not deducted from his pension save by his consent.

asked the Postmaster-General whether the conditions of labour at the Mount Pleasant factory have been altered so that cabinet makers and joiners who are members of trade unions can accept employment there without violating the rules of their unions?

As the hon. Member is aware, the Select Committee on Post Office Servants recommended that "tradesmen" employed in the Post Office factories should be paid at the rates per hour agreed by the organised masters and men in the districts affected, but persons already employed were to be given the option of the old or the new conditions. All the old hands have elected to continue on the old terms. Further, I have been urged by the association representing the men themselves, as well as by an outside trade union, not to adopt the recommendation of the Committee in the case of new entrants, but to maintain the existing arrangements as more favourable to the men employed.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty how many of the fitters employed in Pembroke Dockyard have received what is commonly known as the Forwood percentage rise during the last three years, and how many received it during the previous three years under the late Government; and, if a smaller proportion of men have recently received a percentage rise than in the past, whether he will give instructions for the inequality to be rectified?

The phrase in this question "Forwood percentage rise" is understood to refer to what is otherwise commonly known as the "November rises," under which workmen are promoted by the Admiralty from a lower to a higher rate of pay in their respective classes as a reward for special skill, industry, and attention to duty.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty how many of the four additional slips at the Royal dockyards which are capable of being modified so as to be made suitable for the construction of battleships of an improved "Dreadnought" class are at Pembroke Dockyard?

Two slips at Pembroke are capable of being modified for the purpose stated.

asked how many breweries are at present working in Ireland, and the number respectively paying duty on a production less than 1,000 barrels, 1,000 and under 10,000 barrels, 10,000 and under 20,000 barrels, 20,000 and under 30,000 barrels, 30,000 and under 50,000 barrels, 50,000 and under 100,000 barrels, 100,000 and under 150,000 barrels, 150,000 and under 200,000 barrels, 200,000 and under 250,000 barrels, 250,000 and under 300,000 barrels, and the number paying duty on a production in excess of the latter amount?

The number of "brewers for sale" in Ireland in the month of July, 1909, was 29. The number of "brewers for sale" in Ireland, classified according to the number of barrels charged with duty in the year ended 30th September, 1908, the latest date for which information is available, is as follows:—