asked the Secretary to the Treasury whether Income Tax on compounded house property must be paid on the gross assessment for poor rate purposes, less the one-sixth allowed for repairs, or whether a smaller assessment will be accepted if it can be shown that the net rent actually received is less than the above?

In the area governed by the Metropolis Valuation Act, 1869, the assessment to Income Tax Schedule A is determined by the gross value as fixed by the various Assessment Committees. Outside that area the District Commissioners of Taxes are the authorities for determining the value of property for Income Tax purposes, which may or may not be identical with the gross poor rate value. In each case duty is payable on the value of property so arrived at (subject to statutory allowances) for the periods of occupation.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland what were the numbers of agrarian outrages, shooting outrages, cases of firing at the person and into houses, agrarian and non-agrarian, I during the year 1910; and the number of persons boycotted and under police protection on 31st December, 1910?

During the year 1910 the number of agrarian offences reported was 420. During the same period there were 13 agrarian and 28 non-agrarian cases of firing at the person and 26 agrarian and 19 non-agrarian cases of firing into dwellings. On the 31st December, 1910, there were 18 cases of serious and 128 cases of minor boycotting, affecting 81 and 486 persons respectively, and 316 persons were receiving special police protection, 63 of whom were receiving constant protection and 253 protection by patrol.

asked the Chief Secretary what is the amount awarded for malicious injuries since 1st January, 1906?

The total amount awarded as compensation for malicious injuries during the four years ended 31st December, 1909, was £49,668. The figures for the year 1910 are not yet available.

asked the Chief Secretary whether he is aware that John Lynch, an applicant for an old age pension, living in county Cork, produced a certificate from the parish priest of Glounthare, the parish in which he was born; that he had failed to find in his books the registration of the applicant's own baptism, but had found an entry of the baptism of a brother two years younger than the applicant who, if now alive, would be above seventy years of age, and further produced the evidence of the oldest man in the parish that the applicant was older than his deceased brother, who, if now alive, would admittedly have passed the age limit; whether this evidence satisfied the Mallow pensions committee, including both the Protestant and Catholic clergymen of the town, that the applicant was entitled to his pension; and, if so, on what grounds has their unanimous recommendation been set aside?

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my right hon. Friend the Secretary to the Treasury to the question of the hon. Member for North-East Cork on the 27th April last. In July last the Local Government Board decided that Lynch was not entitled to a pension, as he failed to prove that he had attained the statutory age. The documents relating to the case are not now in the Board's possession, but no evidence of the kind mentioned in the question appears to have been submitted to them, although both the claimant and the Mallow Urban District Pension Sub-committee were requested to forward any evidence of age which they possessed.

asked the Chief Secretary whether, in view of the fact that several inmates of the workhouses in Ireland are unable to obtain certificates of birth, he will advise the Local Government Board to accept the certificate of the master of the workhouse taken from the admission book as evidence of age in all cases where the applicants are unable to obtain a certificate of birth?

I would refer the hon. Member to the concluding paragraph of my reply to the Question of the hon. Member for North Kilkenny on 12th July last.

asked the Chief Secretary whether he is aware that some county councils in Ireland have declined to strike a rate for university scholarships until the University Act is amended so that scholarships can be acquired by the pupils of national schools; and whether, as the children of the poorer ratepayers have as good a claim to the scholarships as the children of fairly well-to-do people, he proposes to have the Act amended in the direction indicated?

Certain county councils have adopted the attitude mentioned in the Question. The Irish Universities Act authorises county councils to provide scholarships for students at any University in Ireland. The question of providing scholarships to enable clever boys at primary schools to continue their education with a view to proceeding to the University is quite a different one, and has nothing to do with the Universities Act, which does not, therefore, require amendment in the direction indicated.

asked the Home Secretary (1) whether any record has been kept of the number of aliens who, though otherwise liable to rejection, have been admitted to this country at immigration ports on the ground that they were political refugees; and (2) whether, in the case of immigrants exempted from exclusion from this country on the ground that they were political refugee's, any record has been kept of the particulars given concerning themselves by such immigrants to the immigration officers or boards?

The Aliens Act provides that "in the case of an immigrant who proves that he is seeking admission to this country solely to avoid prosecution or punishment on religious or political grounds, or for an offence of a political character, or persecution, involving danger of imprisonment or danger to life or limb, on account of religious belief, leave to land shall not be refused on the ground merely of want of means or the probability of his becoming a charge upon the rates." The Returns show that 505 immigrants were given leave to land in 1906 under this provision, forty-three in 1907, twenty in 1908, thirty in 1909, and five in 1910. I have no record of any further particulars of the cases.

asked the Home Secretary whether any inspectors of mines have been appointed during the last six months; and, if any have been appointed, how many of them were practical miners?

No inspectors have been appointed during the last six months.

asked the Prime Minister whether the Development Commissioners are officially represented in this House; and, if not, to whom questions, in reference to their work and policy, should be addressed?

I must refer my hon. Friend to the answer which I gave yesterday to a similar question by the hon. Member for the Wilton Division.

asked the Postmaster-General whether he would explain why a charge of 10s. was recently collected for the porterage of a telegram delivered to an address in New Barnet which is situated beyond the area of free delivery at Whetstone, a distance involving a tram-car fare costing 1d.?

At the time the telegram reached London the New Barnet Office was closed, and an endeavour to obtain the attention of that office was unsuccessful. The telegram had, therefore, to be treated under the rule relating to the delivery of urgent telegrams outside the London area when the normal office of delivery is closed, and that rule provides that a charge of 1s. a mile should be made for porterage from the chief London office. I am, however, considering a modification of this rule under which it may be possible to levy a smaller charge for porterage, and in this particular instance, as the telegram was unfortunately delayed, I will look into the question of refunding part, at any rate, of the charge.

asked the Lord Advocate whether he will state the number of prosecutions, convictions, and the amount of fines received for illegal trawling on the Scotch coasts during the last twelve months?

For the year ending 31st December, 1910, the number of prosecutions was thirty-one, and of convictions was twenty-nine. The amount of the fines paid was £473.