asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland how many clerks have been added to the staff of the Land Commission since the passing of the Land Act of 1903; how many of these clerks have been appointed without the certificate of the Civil Service Commissioners; and how many of them were Irish Land clerks?

The intern staff of the Irish Land Commission (including the Estates Commissioners' Office) has been increased by some 256 members, mainly second division clerks, assistant clerks, and boy clerks. Exclusive of shorthand writers and typists, only 14 of the new officers were appointed without a Civil Service certificate. Of these two were land clerks, and the remainder had special qualifications for the duties for which they were required.

asked the Chief Secretary if he will state on what date was the latest revision of the free quota of police to the several counties in Ireland made; what was the free quota for county Galway of head constables, sergeants, acting sergeants, and constables previous to such revision; and what is the free quota under the same heads at the present time?

The latest revision of the free quota of police was made on 26th May last, when a force of 741 sergeants and constables was allotted to county Galway, 375 to the East Riding and 366 to the West Riding. The free force previous to this revision was 313 men in the East Riding and 303 men in the West Riding. The number of head constables assigned to the county is 15, of whom eight belong to the East Riding and seven to the West Riding. There has been no recent change in these numbers.

asked the Chief Secretary whether the Local Government Board can state at what weekly rent under the last Labourers Act labourers' cottages with half-acre allotments could be let in each of the unions of county Down without adding to the cost to the ratepayers?

The Local Government Board are not in a position to give a complete reply to this question. The weekly rents required to meet the charges on the rates in respect of the loans for the cottages are given in the following table, but the cost of repairs (which varies considerably), the cost of rent collection, and insurance premiums must also be taken into account. The Board are not in possession of these particulars.

Rural District.		Loan per cottage.	Charges falling on rates in respect of Loans.			Weekly rent necessary to recoup rates.
		£	£	s.	d.	s.	d.
Banbridge		200	4	3	2	1	7¼
Castlereagh		174	3	12	4¼	1	4¾
Down-patrick	6 separate Loans obtained.	196	4	1	6	1	7
		170	3	10	8½	1	4½
Hillsborough		208	4	6	6	1	8
Kilkeel		175	3	12	9¼	1	4¾
Moira		240	4	19	9¾	1	11
Newry No. 1		172	3	11	6½	1	4½
Newtownards		179	3	14	5¼	1	5¼

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to the recent panic at a cinematograph display at Southsea; and whether he can see his way to proceed with the Cinematograph Bill?

I have seen reports of this case, and I hope to proceed with the Cinematograph Bill. I desire to direct attention to the important provision for the protection of children at entertainments contained in Section 121 of the Children Act of last Session.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury whether any grants have been made from the Exchequer in the financial years 1908–9 and 1909–10 for light railways or harbours, and, if so, what was the amount of each such grant; to what locality it was granted, and at the request of what local body; and what local or other authority will be responsible for the expenditure of money granted?

The following grants have been made from the Exchequer in the

HARBOURS.—Great Britain.
Harbour.		1908–9. Amount paid.	1909–10. Amount voted.	Authority responsible.
		£	£
Brixham	…	—	17,000	Urban District Council.
Craster	…	1,000	1,000	Mr. T. W. Craster (the Undertaker under the Craster Harbour Order 1905).
Fraserburgh	…	Nil.	12,500	Harbour Trustees.
Newlyn	…	5,102	2,551	Harbour Commissioners.
Peterhead	…	21,000	—	Harbour Trustees.
Pwllheli	…	5,313	4,875	Corporation.
Scarborough	…	2,375	2,375	Harbour Commissioners.
Sennen Cove	…	1,000	300	Harbour Commissioners.
Southwold	…	3,000	—	Corporation.
Whitby	…	—	16,000	Urban District Council.
Wick and Pulteney	…	—	10,000	Harbour Trustees.
		£38,790	£66,601

These grants are usually made to the authorities concerned upon the Board of Trade being satisfied that a much larger sum than the amount of the grant has been expended upon the respective works.It may be assumed that the authority to which the grant is made is the authority which made the request for the grant.

Ireland.
	1908–9 (Actual Expenditure.)			1909–10 (as per Estimate).			Locality to which granted	At request of Local Body.	Authority responsible for Expenditure.
	£	s.	d.	£	s.	d.
Sligo	6,000	0	0	8,000	0	0	Co. Sligo	Sligo Harbour Bd.	Board of Works.
Fenit	—			5,000	0	0	Co. Kerry	Tralee & Fenit do.	Board of Works.
Included in Estimates for Public Works and Buildings, Ireland.
Liscannor	452	10	5	970	0	0	Co. Clare	Clare Co. Council	Board of Works.
Cleggan	745	14	4	950	0	0	Co. Galway.	Galway Council	Board of Works.
Gortnasate	24	3	10	—			Co. Donegal.	Donegal Council	Board of Works
Downies Bay	2,739	10	7	1,170	0	0	Co. Donegal.	Donegal Council	Board of Work.
Portnoo	31	13	7	—			Co. Donegal.	Donegal Council	Board of Work.
Falcorrib	65	17	7	50	0	0	Co. Donegal.	Donegal Council	Board of Works.
Renard Point.	1,247	17	4	450	0	0	Co. Kerry	Kerry Council	Board of Works.
Cape Clear	2	0	0	—			Co. Cork	Cork Council	Board of Works
Portavogi	2,500	0	0	2,716	0	0	Co. Down …	—	Board of Works.
Under the provisions of the Marine Works (Ireland) Act, 1902.
Arklow	6,000	0	0	4,251	0	0	Co. Wicklow	—	Department of Agriculture & Technical Instruction.
Wicklow	3,821	8	2	253	0	0	Co. Wicklow	—	Wicklow Harbour Commissioners.
£	23,630	15	10	23,810	0	0
From Ireland Development Grant Fund.