asked the Secretary to the Treasury, whether Customs assistants attaining to the scale of second-class examining officer qualify for the title of second-class examining officer upon the occurrence of vacancies in that grade; whether a number of vacancies now exist in the grade of second-class examining officer; whether a number of assistants have attained to the scale of that grade without having been promoted to the vacancies; and whether, in view of the fact that the assistants are losing privileges of leave and overtime, he will remove this alleged prievance?

The answers to the first and third questions are in the affirmative. As regards the second and fourth questions there are now four vacancies of examining officer, second-class, which will be filled as rapidly as circumstances permit.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury (1) whether the transfer of Excise officials to the Customs, at different times in 1909, had the effect of delaying the promotion of a number of Customs assistants, with consequent permanent monetary loss, whether the transfer of Customs assistants to the Excise in 1910 has rendered possible the rapid promotion of Excise assistants with consequent monetary gain; and (2) whether, in view of the rapid promotion of Excise assistants to second-class officers, and the delay in the promotion of Customs assistants to second-class examining officers, and the advantage to Excise assistants thus indicated, he will give an assurance that this different treatment of the two grades by the Board of Customs and Excise will not be allowed to prejudice the prospects of the assistants of Customs?

The Noble Lord will find a full and reasoned answer to these points in a reply given to the Member for Barrow on July 11th, 1910.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether Admiral Henderson has made any report to the Government on Australian naval affairs; and whether this report will be published for the information of this House?

Sir Reginald Henderson has presented a report to the Commonwealth Government on the Naval Forces of the Commonwealth. I will cause a copy to be placed in the Library of the House for the convenience of Members, but it is not at present proposed to reprint the report for presentation to Parliament.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty the number of clerks in the employment of the Admiralty who have' not obtained their appointments after open competition?

I presume that the clerks to whom the hon. Gentleman refers are those employed at Whitehall, of whom 252 have not obtained their appointments by open competition. This number does not include the forty-five assistant clerks who obtained their present positions by limited competitive examinations conducted by the Civil Service Commissioners, but entered the Government service originally as boy clerks by open competitive examination.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War if he is aware that T. Smith, of Crawley, Winchester, has been unable to draw his pension owing to the Post Office officials at Crawley not having received the second advices, the officer paying pensions being attached to the Army pay office, Shrewsbury; and, if so, what steps he will take in the matter?

It appears that the original advice and also a duplicate advice have gone astray probably owing to a confusion between Crawley, Winchester, and Crawley in Sussex. A third advice has now been sent by registered post, and T. Smith has been informed accordingly.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether officers commanding companies in the Territorial Force, of five years' service and upwards, are required to attend a course of instruction in order that the Army allowance of £1 1s. 9d., the cost of badges and buttons occasioned by the renumbering of battalions, may be paid to them?

Company officers who did not attend a course of instruction in the Volunteer Force are required to do so in order to qualify for the retention of the outfit grant issued on transfer to the Territorial Force to meet the cost of alteration of uniform. The grant is not withheld pending such qualification, but is subject to refund if the officer does not qualify within three years or such extension of time as may be accorded to him.

asked the President of the Board of Education if he will state the number of inspectors of schools in the employment of his Board, and how many of them have been raised from the ranks of teachers in elementary schools?

The number of inspectors of schools of all grades is 361. So far as I can understand what the hon. Member means by "raised from the ranks of teachers in elementary schools," the number of inspectors answering to this description is 181. Of the 181 forty-two (including six women) are full inspectors, ten are junior inspectors, and 129 are sub-inspectors. These figures do not include certain inspectors who have taught for comparatively short periods in public elementary schools. Nor do they include certain inspectors who have taught in public elementary schools as part of the course for a diploma in the theory and practice of teaching.

asked the President whether he is aware that as long ago as November, 1909, a specially convened Conference representing all the teachers in English and Welsh schools, elementary, secondary, and technical, voted unanimously for the establishment of a representative registration council, and the institution of an effective register in accordance with the Act of 1907; whether, in response to this expression of the deliberate opinion of the whole of the teaching profession, any steps have yet been taken to establish such a register; and, if not, when he will be prepared to take such steps?

From the wording of his question I think the hon. Member is unaware that some of the more important associations of teachers who attended the Conference referred to in the question and voted for the establishment of a register in accordance with the scheme put forward at the Conference did so subject to observations and limitations set forth in Memoranda, which were handed to the Chairman of the Conference and transmitted to the Board. These Memoranda were found to contain strong differences of view on crucial points in connection with the scheme. On consideration of these Memoranda and of the scheme, it was found that., in addition to the divergence of views held by various associations, various important points in connection with the scheme itself and affecting its practical outcome had been left undetermined, and in some instances had not been dealt with. It was apparently assumed at the Conference that the Board of Education would in some way find a solution for the difficulties, or that I should formulate some scheme of my own, in general accordance with the proposals of the Conference, that would reconcile the divergencies of view and produce a complete and workable plan. The proposals of the Conference have been carefully considered, together with the Memoranda, in the light of the difficulties which had impaired the success of the previous register, and it became apparent that further examination and discussion by the authors of the scheme was necessary before any satisfactory solution could be regarded as really practicable, and therefore before any President of the Board could properly take the responsibility of proposing an Order in Council under the Act. As I stated on 3rd April, further Conferences have been held at the Board's offices recently for the purpose of further discussion; and a Memorandum of these discussions and of the agreement which it is now hoped has been reached with regard to such of the earlier proposals as were either in dispute or undetermined is being prepared for circulation to the various associations concerned; and it is hoped that it may in this way be possible to arrive at reliable information as to whether a solution satisfactory to the various main branches of the teaching profession and likely to be useful to the profession and to education generally can now be regarded as having been reached. I will lay papers on the Table so soon as any important stage of further progress is reached and in the meantime I would say that the matter is being pressed forward as speedily as possible.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for India whether he has now received a report concerning the assault committed in a first-class compartment in a railway train between Bakhtiarpur and Mokamah on 4th March by a junior engineer in the service of the East India Railway Company on the servant of the Honourable Khan Bahadur Sarteraz Hussain, an orderly of the Legislative Department of the Bengal Government, when the servant, who was looking after his master's luggage, was thrust from the carriage while the train was in motion, and had to cling to a bar outside the carriage for three-quarters of an hour, and the sub inspector at Mokamah had the servant put under arrest for having complained about the assault; and what action has been taken in the matter?

Yes, Sir, Mr. Speedily, a junior engineer on the East India Railway, on returning from the dining car to the first-class carriage in which he was travelling, found there a servant of the Hon. Sarfarazz Hussain, looking after his master's things in his absence. Mr. Speechly ordered the servant to leave and the latter did so, but instead of going to the servants' compartment, attempted to re-enter the carriage. Being prevented by Mr. Speechly, he travelled on the footboard to Mokamah, a run of forty-three minutes. The sub-inspector of police at that place at first made over the servant to the police in the belief that he was contravening the Railway Act by travelling on the footboard, but before the train started he was released and allowed to proceed on his journey. The Government of Bengal are considering the case. Mr. Speechly has apologised to Mr. Hussain and will be punished for his action towards the man whom he forced to remain on the footboard of a moving train.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for India whether he can state what is the gaol mortality in India; and what proportion does it bear to the gaol population.

The gaol mortality in India during the year 1909, the latest year for which figures are available, was 2,809. The death-rate per thousand of the gaol population, of which the mean daily number was 112,249, was 25.02.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies, whether the municipal officials of certain. towns in the Straits Settlements, who were found guilty o£ corruption and neglect of duty by the commission appointed by the Governor, which reported in September last, have been removed from their posts; if so, how many officials have been removed; and what steps have been taken to prevent the recurrence of similar evils in the future?

I am unable to answer this question pending the receipt of a reply to a despatch which I have addressed to the Governor.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is aware that at a recent meeting of the Moray Firth Fisheries Association at Edinburgh, which was attended by representatives of fishermen from all parts of Scotland, resolutions were passed urging an extension of the three-mile limit; and, in view of the terms of the North Sea Fisheries Convention, will he consider the expediency of convening a meeting of the European Powers for the purpose of discussing the question?

As regards the first part of the question, I am aware that such a resolution was passed at a meeting held on the 7th instant, representative of the line and drift-net fishermen on the East Coast of Scotland. As regards the second part, I have nothing to add to the answer given to my hon. Friend the Member for the Montrose Burghs on 13th February last.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is aware that during the last sixteen months as many as forty-six foreign trawlers have been observed fishing in the Moray Firth on 303 occasions; and, seeing that the Firth is closed against British trawlers, and that the fish caught by these foreign trawlers is carried to foreign ports, will he again consider the expediency of convening a meeting of European Powers with a view to arrive at some international agreement under which firths and other inshore waters which have been closed against trawlers by the State holding command over the adjacent shore shall remain likewise closed against trawlers flying a foreign flag?

The answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. With regard to the second part, I have nothing to add to the answer given on 13th February to my hon. Friend the Member for Montrose Burghs.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he is aware that the Bombay Chamber of Commerce in 1909 refused to move in favour of the repeal of the Indian Plumage Act on the grounds that the plumage birds, being largely insectivorous, were necessary for the agricultural interests of India, and if it is the intention of the Government, in defiance of this expressed wish of the Indian community, to permit a section of the London Chamber of Commerce to deal in feathers from these birds illicitly exported from India; and what steps he proposes to take in the matter?

I have seen the correspondence which passed in 1909 between the Chambers of Commerce of London and Bombay, in which the latter Chamber refused on the grounds stated in the question to move in favour of the repeal of the notification issued by the Governor of India in 1902 prohibiting the export of plumage with certain exceptions. The matter has for some time been engaging my careful attention, but the difficulties with which it is surrounded, so long as the attempt to deal with the mischief is confined to a single importing country are very great. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs has with my concurrence approached the principal commercial countries with a view to an International Conference to consider the possibility of common action. I regret to say, however, that so far the response has not been very encouraging.

asked the Lord Advocate, whether he is aware that the fishing beds off the coast of Lewis have been so depleted of fish through illegal trawling that the line fishermen located in the fishermen's dwellings at Battery Park, Stornoway, having found it quite impossible to follow their calling with success, have recently petitioned the Government to give them access to the land; whether, seeing that the line-fishing industry in the island of Lewis is being rapidly ruined through illegal trawling, he will state on how many days during last year the shores of Lewis were visited by a Fishery Board cruiser; and if he will arrange for trawlers visiting those waters to be more closely-watched in future?

I am not aware that the Lewis fishing beds have been depleted, as suggested in the question; on the contrary, the catches made by local line fishermen during the last two years have, according to reports received by the Fishery Board, been exceptionally good. I may add that only four complaints of illegal trawling were received by the Board from the Lews in 1910, and that the Lewis coast was visited by cruisers as often as the resources at the Board's disposal permitted, and not less on the average than once in every five or six days in the year.

asked the Lord Advocate what is the valuation, if any, placed on the roll this year by the Greenock assessor in respect of the land reclaimed from the sea at Cardwell Bay, Firth of Clyde?

I am informed that the foreshore in question is in process of being filled up, and that, as it has no letting value in its present state, it is not entered as a separte subject on the Valuation roll.