asked the Secretary to the Treasury whether he is aware of the dissatisfaction in the Excise Department owing to loss of prospects consequent on the reduction in the number of appointments in the higher grades; and whether he can explain why only six promotions to the rank of supervisor have been made since 1st January, 1909, although the yearly average previously was not less than thirty?

As the hon. Member is no doubt aware, I am presiding over a Committee which is at present considering the amalgamation of the Customs and Excise Services. I can assure him that the matter referred to will receive my careful consideration, but in the circumstances I would ask him to allow me to refrain from giving any further answer to his question.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury, whether, in view of the first meeting of the Customs and Excise Amalgamation Inquiry Committee having been delayed until the 1st instant, he can arrange for sittings on more than one day a week in order that, as soon as possible, the changes recommended may be carried out, and the present dislocation in promotion in the higher grades of the Excise Department removed?

I regret that I am not able to increase the number of the sittings of the Committee beyond one a week, and I cannot pledge myself to maintain that number constantly.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury what publications from the Irish State Papers and Historical Manuscripts will be made this year?

The publications relating exclusively to Ireland which will be made during the present year (1910–11) are as follows:—Calendar of Irish State Papers of the Reign of Charles II., Vol. IV.; Report of the Historical Manuscripts Commission on the Manuscripts of the Marquess of Ormonde, Vol. VI. The general calendars of the Patent and Close Rolls and other Mediæval Records, and also of the Domestic State Papers, which are issued under the direction of the Master of the Rolls, include entries relating to Ireland as well as to Great Britain. In addition to the above-mentioned, the following publications, of the Public Record Office, Ireland, will probably appear in the course of the year:—Henry V., Statutes of the Irish Parliament, Vol. II.; Edward I., Calendar of Justiciary Rolls, Vol. II. A continuation of the Catalogue of the Pipe Rolls also is in the press.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he is aware that the local sub-committee allowed the claim to an old age pension of Daniel O'Shea, Coonana, Cahirciveen; and whether, in view of the evidence which has been submitted in support of the claim, the Local Government Board will reconsider its decision which resulted in withdrawing the payment of the pension?

I understand that in this case the pension was discontinued as I the result of a question raised by the pension officer on the ground that the claimant's age was recorded in the Census Return of 1841 as being only six months. The claimant stated that he was married forty-nine years ago, but the only evidence produced in support of this statement was I the certificate of his eldest child's baptism in March, 1865. It is not open to the Board to reconsider their decisions.

asked the Chief Secretary whether he is aware that Catherine Adams, whose maiden name was Catherine Fox, of the Celbridge union, county Kildare, was in the receipt of an old age pension from 1st January, 1909, and that a question as to her age was raised by the pension officer, when Adams produced a copy of the Census of 1851 showing the pensioner to have been eighteen years of age on that date; whether he is aware that, although the committee upon that evidence continued the pension, the same has been since disallowed on appeal on the ground that the pensioner had not yet reached the age of seventy years; will he state whether the Census of 1851 is regarded as any evidence of age; and, if it is, why was the pension of Adams discontinued?

By a clerical error the-wrong decision was notified in this case. The Local Government Board were quite satisfied that the pensioner had attained the statutory age, and the mistake was-rectified immediately the Board's attention was called to it by the clerk of the-pension sub-committee.

asked the Chief Secretary if he will say what were the terms of purchase on the Sir Thomas. Finlay, otherwise Robert Scholefield (owner) estate, near Bawnboy, county Cavan; have all the tenants bought, and were the terms the same in all cases; and has any regard been had for the security for the advances?

I am informed by the Land Commission that seventy-five holdings on this estate were sold to the tenants under the provisions of the Land Purchase Acts of 1891 and 1896 between the years 1898 and 1901. Particulars of the sale of each holding will be found in the Annual Returns of Advances for these years, which were presented to Parliament pursuant to Section 33 of the Purchase of Land (Ireland) Act, 1891. The terms of purchase varied according to the circumstances of the different holdings. The advances in each case were sanctioned having regard to the security.

asked the President of the Board of Education whether he can say how many, and which, local education authorities whose elementary education rate is 1s. 6d. in the £ or over are precluded from sharing in the special grant in aid (£200,000) by Clause 4 of the present regulations?

The complete Returns for 1908–9 are not yet available. In 1907–8 the following seventeen authorities raised rates for elementary education equivalent to a rate of more than 1s. 6d. in the £, but as the Returns have not been scrutinised with a view to the Special Grant, it is possible that some of these areas would be excluded from participation by adjustments under Section 2 of the Regulations, even if they were not disqualified by Section 4.

asked the Secretary of State for War whether he will state the total number of officers, non-commissioned officers, and men who are to receive pensions, retired pay, half-pay, and gratuities during 1910–11; and the amount allocated?

Estimated number of officers, warrant officers, non-commissioned officers and men who will draw half pay, retired pay, pensions, and gratuities during 1910–11, and the amount provided in the Estimates for these services:—

asked the Postmaster-General whether, having regard to the recommendation of the Tweedmouth Committee that minor sorting duties should be considered a part of the duties of London postmen, and afterwards that recommendation being made an authority for introducing an annual sorting test for all London postmen subsequently appointed, he can state why a similar recommendation contained in the Report of the Hob-house Committee has been made to apply retrospectively to all London postmen, irrespective of the date of their appointment?

Minor sorting duties have been performed by London postmen for the last forty years, and the annual test of efficiency has no connection with the Reports of the two Committees referred to by the hon. Member. With the exception of postmen appointed to the London Eastern Central District before 1897, a test has been applied since 1903 to ail London postmen, irrespective of the date of their appointment. As there appeared to be no sufficient reason for any longer treating the Eastern Central District postmen exceptionally the test has recently been imposed in their case also.

asked the Postmaster-General, in reference to the Departmental Committee he is about to appoint to investigate the conditions appertaining to the Post Office factories, whether he will seriously consider the advisability and necessity of including on that Committee officers of the society representing the workers in the said factories?

The Committee which I have appointed will not carry out any direct investigation into the conditions of employment at the Post Office factories, a matter which formed part of the subject of the inquiry by the recent Select Committee of this House on Post Office Servants. The Departmental Committee will inquire into the organisation and equipment of the factories and analogous questions. Although I hope that an important result of their inquiry may prove to be a greater regularity of employment for the workmen engaged, I do not think that the Committee is one on which a representative of the workers' society would serve with advantage.

asked the Post- master-General whether he will confine the nominations for the newly created class of sub-engineers, probationary, to qualified linemen and mechanics only, and thereby secure in the interests of the public and the efficiency of the service a definite avenue of promotion for an intelligent and educated class of artisans in the engineering department of the General Post Office?

Nominations for the newly created class of probationary sub-engineers will be confined to those classes from which promotion to the rank of sub-engineer has hitherto been made.