asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he is aware that the Local Government Board have directed the Irish boards of guardians not to make any reduction in their current estimates in respect of the diminished cost of relief owing to the removal of the pauper disqualification for old age pensions, and have grounded their action on the statement that they have been in communication with the Government, and have been given to understand that it is still intended to compel the unions to contribute towards the cost of pensions in such cases; if he is aware that the Irish boards of guardians have in general refused to provide for legislative proposals not yet even discussed in Parliament by increasing their estimates beyond present legal requirements; if the English Local Government Board has instructed boards of guardians that they are not compellable to do more than provide for the requirements of the existing law; and, under these circumstances, will the Irish Local Government Board be directed to drop their attempt to enforce a different rule as to hypothetical legislation?

The statements in the first two paragraphs of the Question are substantially correct. I understand that the English Local Government Board have not issued any such instructions as those mentioned. The action of the Local Government Board in Ireland was prompted by a desire to inform the boards of guardians that it was possible they might be called upon to make a contribution towards the cost of pensions, as public bodies in Ireland frequently complain of no notice being given to them of possible claims upon their Budgets. There is nothing for me to interfere with as the circular has appeared.

asked the Chief Secretary whether he can state the names of the goods detained and reported upon to the Board of Customs officials in the following Irish ports: Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Limerick, and Derry for the twelve months ended 31st December, 1910?

I beg to refer the hon. Member to the answer which I gave to a similar question by him on the 28th November, 1910. I regret that I am still unable to give the information asked.

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he would state what had been the yearly income and expenditure of the Local Taxation Account under Section 58 of the Local Government Act, 1898, since its inception, specifying the items of expenditure under the several statutory heads?

I would refer the hon. Member to Parliamentary Paper No. 15 for 1907, which gives the required information for each financial year from 1st April, 1899, to 31st March, 1906. The information for the succeeding years will be found in the Annual Returns since presented to Parliament (Parliamentary Papers Nos. 83 of 1908, 3 of 1909, 8 and 339 of 1910).

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the Governor-General of South Africa has recently commuted the death penalty on a native, convicted for criminally assaulting a white woman near Umtali, in Rhodesia?

A native named Alukuleta, tried at Salisbury on 26th October on a charge of rape, was found guilty and sentenced to death. The case came before the High Commissioner for South Africa for review on 16th November, who, after corresponding with the presiding Judge, commuted the sentence by telegram on 20th December to penal servitude for life.

asked the Postmaster-General what are now the hours of service in the Post Office in Brighton, Tunbridge Wells, and Eastbourne, on weekdays and Sundays; why the hours of service at the Eastbourne post office both on weekdays and Sundays have recently been seriously reduced; and whether, before making such reduction, statistics were taken as to the number of persons using the office during the hours it was contemplated closing the same?

The hours at Brighton, Tunbridge Wells, and Eastbourne are as follows:—Brighton: Open always, except between midnight Saturday and 7.0 a.m. Sunday. Tunbridge Wells: Weekdays, 7.0 a.m. to 10.0 p.m.; Sundays, 8.30 a.m. to 10.0 a.m., 5.0 p.m. to 6.0 p.m. Eastbourne: Weekdays (May to Oct.), 7.0 a.m. to 10.0 p.m.; Weekdays (Nov. to April), 8.0 a.m. to 9.0 p.m.; Sundays, 8.30 a.m. to 10.0 a.m., 5.0 p.m. to 6.0 p.m. The hours of attendance at Eastbourne were recently reduced because it was ascertained from returns, taken during several non-consecutive weeks, that the amount of business transacted was not sufficient to justify the continuance of the former hours of attendance. It is the practice to make such reductions where the circumstances are found not to justify the longer hours.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture whether he will take steps in future to prevent the use of the official notepaper and official stamps of the Board of Agriculture by Parliamentary candidates in writing to electors to solicit their votes?

By an error certain letters were sent out franked, but on my attention being called to this the cost was repaid, and the hon. Member may be sure that such a mistake will not occur again.