asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether it was his intention to provide in the National Insurance Bill that when women who are voluntary contributors marry they shall not continue to be insured, even if the qualifications which entitled them to be insured before marriage continue after it?

The reply is in the affirmative.

asked the Chancellor a the Exchequer if he can state how many Excise supervisors, officers, and assistants, respectively, were employed in England on 1st October, 1908, 1st October, 1909, 1st October, 1910, and 1st April, 1911; and what was the approximate number of old age pensioners in England on 1st October, 1909, 1st October, 1910, and 1st April, 1911?

submitted the following figures:—

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give a list of Members of the House of Commons in receipt of salaries or pensions from public

The information for which my hon. Friend asks is contained in the following statement:—

asked the Secretary to the Treasury whether he could see his way to allow assistant clerks (abstractor class) who have been promoted to the second division to count the whole or some portion of the time served as assistant clerks towards the six years required for eligibility for special increments under Clause 33 of the Order in Council dated 10th January, 1910?

The reply is in the affirmative.

asked the Chief Secretary whether he is aware that on 5th November, 1902, the Local Government Board for Ireland, by sealed order, determined the townlands of Tullaghmurry East and West and Mullaghacall North, in the electoral division of Portstewart, in the Coleraine Rural District, as the area of charge for special expenses in connection with water and sewerage schemes and other purposes under the provisions of the Public Health Acts; whether he is aware that the special rate on that area at present for such purposes is 2s. 3d. in the pound; that the Commissioner of Valuation in the year 1909 or 1910, without notice to the sanitary authority or the owners and occupiers of certain parts of that area, made changes in the original boundaries whereby some parts within the area were included in the adjoining townlands outside the area, and some parts of the townlands outside the original area were brought inside the sanitary district, causing much confusion; that these changes have made the boundary lines unsightly and crooked; that, notwithstanding that the local sanitary authority have on three occasions asked the Commissioner of Valuation to have the original boundary line reinstated, he has refused to do so; and whether, as it is contemplated at an early date to have the town of Portstewart, which is included in the aforesaid area, formed into an urban district, he will give directions to the Commissioner of Valuation to have the old boundaries reinstated, as requested by the rural district council, the sanitary committee, and the owners and occupiers of the lands interested.

A sealed order was issued, as stated, on 5th November, 1902, by the Local Government Board, but it related only to sewerage works and waterworks. The special rate last year for these purposes was 2s. 3d. in the pound. In the year 1907 certain changes were made in the boundaries of the townlands of the county Londonderry, including those referred to in the question, in accordance with the provisions of the Boundary Survey Acts. Under those Acts no notice to the sanitary authorities is required when a change in a townland boundary is proposed. The changes referred to in the question, which affect only three farms, were favourably reported on, and do not cause any hardship. The chief boundary surveyor has no power, as he informed the sanitary authorities in this case, to reinstate the original boundary line.

asked the number of evicted tenants in county Clare reinstated or provided with new holdings in the last ten years, and the number who have applied for reinstatement?

Since the passing of the Irish Land Act, 1903, the Estates Commissioners have received 508 applications from persons seeking reinstatement as evicted tenants or their representatives in county Clare. In 223 cases the Commissioners, after inquiry and consideration, decided to take no action. One hundred and forty-nine applicants have been reinstated in their former holdings or provided with other holdings, and fifteen have been noted for consideration in the allotment of untenanted land by the Commissioners. The remaining applications were not received within the period limited by the Evicted Tenants Act, 1907, and cannot, therefore be dealt wth under that Act.

asked whether the Estates Commissioners received in due time from Edward O'Malley, Westport, an application for reinstatement on a holding from which he was evicted by the Earl of Lucan, situate in Innisturk, county Mayo, and recently acquired by the Congested Districts Board; and, if so, whether the Commissioners or the Board will reinstate O'Malley, or provide him with another holding?

The Estates Commisseioners are making further inquiries into the application of Edward O'Malley. The Congested Districts Board cannot undertake to provide a holding for this man, as they have no untenanted lands on or in the neighbourhood of the Lucan estate available for the purpose.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland what was the income for the financial year ending 31st March last of the housing fund established by the Housing of the Working Classes (Ireland) Act, 1908 whether he will state the names of the local authorities which applied for loans under that Act, with the amount applied for, the amount sanctioned, and the amount of the grant in aid payable under the Act mentioned in the same financial year to each authority; and whether he will state the extent to which the grant meets the housing charge in each case for the year?

The income of the Irish Housing Fund for the year ending 31st March last was £6,221 4s. 2d. Four Tables are appended giving the further information asked for by the hon. Member.

asked the Chief Secretary whether his attention has been called to the resolution adopted by the Dublin Mercantile Association in favour of the adoption of Greenwich time in Ireland; and will the Irish Government consider the expediency of taking action in the matter?

I have seen a copy of the resolution referred to. If there was any general demand for the change the Government would be prepared to consider the matter.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether the Admiralty have sent out any requests to Royal Marine Reserve men to volunteer for service in His Majesty's ships during the naval review at Spithead; if so, whether such requests have been issued to seamen reserve men; and whether he can see his way to modify this inequality of treatment?

No requests have been sent out to men of the Royal Fleet Reserve, either Royal Marines or others, "to volunteer for service in His Majesty's ships during the naval review at Spit-head." As in previous years, seamen and stoker ratings of the Royal Fleet Reserve have been given the opportunity of volunteering for service in ships completing to full complement for the forthcoming Fleet exercises, and those accepting will join on 13th June. Royal Marine Royal Fleet Reserve men are not required for ships completing to full complement, and consequently they are not asked to volunteer.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether No. 1584 Private Alfred Sturgess, late of the 1st Hants Regiment, who served nine years and is in possession of the Burmah medal and clasp, and who was invalided owing to sunstroke in India, can now obtain the extra halfpenny a day pension which was promised him for service with the Reserve during the South African war, seeing that he can obtain no employment owing to constant fits, the result of sunstroke whilst serving?

Alfred Sturgess has received the extra halfpenny for service in the Royal Reserve Regiment for the last ten years. There is no record of his suffering from sunstroke during the Army service.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether women are now or have been during the last two years employed making bags at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, or elsewhere, for sixty hours a week for 2s. 7d.?

No, Sir, there is no foundation whatever for the statement contained in the hon. Member's question. Perhaps he will refer to the answer given to the question put by the hon. Member for the Watford Division of Herts on 6th March last.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War if he will state how many men are annually invalided out of the Army?

The figures for the last three years are as follows: 1907–8, 2,455; 1908–9, 2,185; 1909–10, 2,092. Further figures for earlier years will be found on page 32 of the General Annual Report (Cd. 5,451). These figures do not include rejection for medical unfitness in the first three months' service, which will be found on page 47.

asked the President of the Board of Education whether the London County Council has decided that unvaccinated children shall be excluded from the elementary schools on a certificate of the medical officer; whether the Board of Education proposes to allow the medical officer to examine children to discover whether they have been vaccinated or not; and whether, in the event of parents declining to vaccinate their children, the Board will permit prosecutions because the children are not attending school?

I am not aware that any such decision has been taken by the London County Council. The Board are, of course, unable to prevent a school medical officer from observing, in the course of his examination, whether children bear vaccination marks or not. But the question of vaccination is not included in the Schedule of Particulars, attention to which the Board regard as constituting the minimum of efficient medical inspection. The Board have no jurisdiction either to promote or prevent prosecutions for non-attendance at school?

asked the President of the Local Government Board whether he is aware that the vaccination officer of the Brentford union has written to the various education committees in his district suggesting that the school medical officers should examine the children attending the elementary schools to ascertain their vaccinal condition; and whether such action is authorised by any Order of the Board?

I have no information on the subject. The vaccination officer, if he has written as suggested, has not done so in pursuance of any Order of the Local Government Board.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whet her, in view of the attitude taken up by the Shipping Federation, as representing the shipowners, in refusing to agree to the formation of a conciliation board, he will decline to grant the A A form, or certificate of clearance, until the final completion of the crews of the vessels; whether he will notify the superintendents of Mercantile Marine offices not to grant such certificates on their own authority until the final completion of the crews; and whether he will refuse sanction for crews to be signed on at times outside the prescribed office hours?

My hon. Friend is referring to certain facilities granted in special circumstances for the convenience of the shipping trade of the country. I do not think I should be justified in withdrawing these facilities, which are guarded by careful instructions to secure strict impartiality in the case of any trade dispute arising.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he will give a statement in avoirdupois tons of the estimated pig-iron and steel production, respectively, of the United Kingdom, the United States of America, the German

The following statements give the information desired by my hon. Friend, so far as the information is available:—

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that the Port of London Authority are giving a holiday to the whole of their platelayers on 27th May in celebration of the King's birthday, and also giving notice of two days' holiday to the same men at the Coronation, in both cases without pay; and whether the Port of London Authority will reconsider their decision with a view to paying the men?

I am informed by the Port of London Authority that their platelayers, in common with the rest of their staff, will not be employed on 27th May or on the two Coronation Bank Holidays, and that although they do not see their way to give effect to the suggestion made by the hon. Member as regards the pay of men engaged by the day or hour on the King's birthday, and ordinary public holidays, they have decided that all workmen whom the Authority are satisfied they would employ on the two Coronation days shall be paid wages for those days.

asked the Prime Minister whether he is aware that the Archbishops of Canterbury and York have commended the clergy to use a form of service in parish churches on Coronation day which is not ordered by lawful authority, which refers to the Communion Table as the Altar, and which suppresses the King's oath to maintain the Protestant reformed religion established by law; and whether he will advise his Majesty to set forth a form of service for use in parish churches on Coronation day, using the Church's authorised description of the Communion Table, and giving the full wording of the statutory Coronation oath, modelled on that set forth by the command of his late Majesty King Edward VII. and widely used throughout the Empire?

I am aware that, following a practice which is not unusual on other occasions besides the Coronation, the archbishops have commended to their provinces a form or service for parish churches on Coronation Day. The use of this service is not, I understand, obligatory on any beneficed clerk, but as it follows closely, though in a necessarily abbreviated form, the phraseology of the traditional Coronation Office in which the word altar is used both in the text and in the rubric, I can see no objection to it, nor any reason for adopting the suggestion made in the latter part of the hon. Member's question.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he can see his way to issue the Blue Book [Cd. 4954] of 1909 on British and Foreign trade and industry as an annual publication, and to include in it tables showing the comparative course of wages in the four countries dealt with?

As was announced in the Prefatory Note to the Blue Book in question, it is intended that these returns shall be issued at periodical intervals. I doubt, however, if there is sufficient reason for incurring the expense of issuing them annually. The suggestion that information with regard to the course of wages in the four countries should be included will receive careful consideration when the next issue is in course of preparation.

asked the President of the Local Government Board whether his attention has been called to the practice of certain vendors of milk in the large towns of selling as new milk milk to which a certain amount of separated milk has been previously added; and whether, with a view to preventing fraud upon the public and in the interests of the farmers concerned in milk production, he will take such steps as may be needful to give effect to the opinion expressed by the Departmental Committee of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries on Milk Regulations, 1901, that separated milk should be earmarked by the addition of some suitable and innocuous substance so as to identify it when mixed with whole milk, and that depots and factories from which separated milk is sent out should keep a register, and be subject to inspection by the Board of Agriculture?

Cases of the kind referred to in the first part of the question have been reported to the Board. Provision for dealing with the matter is contained in the Milk Bill which I hope to introduce.

asked the President of the Local Government Board whether he will arrange for the Government inspectors under the Public Heatlh Act to ex tend their inspection to all existing crèches; and whether he will also arrange for the registration of such crèches?

The question of the supervision of crèches is under my consideration, but I am not at present in a position to make any statement with regard to it.

asked the President of the Local Government Board whether, in order to help the House to decide on the issues raised by the St. Mary, Prestwich, and St. Mary, Radcliffe, Rectory Bills, now awaiting Second Reading, he could state the population in 1901, and at the recent Census, of the parishes of Prestwich and Radcliffe, in the county of Lancashire?

If the Committee on these Bills think it necessary for the due consideration of the Bills that they should have before them the populations of the two places mentioned, as ascertained by the recent Census, and apply to the Census Office for the figures in question, I have no doubt that arrangements can be made for supplying them.

asked the Prime Minister whether his attention has been directed to the statement in the judgment of Mr. Justice Channell in the East Nottingham election petition, in which, while holding that the promiscuous distribution of charity did not vacate the seat, the learned Judge said that the evidence proved that the sitting Member determined that the charity should as a rule be given to his own constituents, and that he recognised that this charity would be likely to assist him at any future election, while he also handed over the work to Mr. Berryman, who was his political agent and known as such; and whether, having regard to the remark of the learned Judge in reference to this practice, that it was for the legislature to forbid it and not for them, steps will be taken by the Government for the introduction of legislation in the interests of the purity of elections to bring within the category of corrupt practices this method of seeking the favour of constituencies

asked the Prime Minister whether, in view of recent events, he can see his way to introduce legislation to remove the disadvantages from which poor men suffer as candidates for Parliament by limiting the amount which a candidate or Member may distribute in charity, subscriptions, and in other ways in the constituency for which he is standing within twelve months before any election?

I can only refer my hon. Friends to the answer which I gave yesterday to my hon. Friend the Member for Northampton.

asked the Postmaster-General whether the question of marking the new postage stamps with the words British Isles has been considered; and, if so, whether any objection is taken to this inscription?

Yes, Sir, but in the absence of any real requirement, I did not think it advisable to place upon the postage stamps a name which is not in general use as the designation of this country.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture whether he is aware that the Department of Agriculture in Sweden has proposed that the State postal savings bank should furnish agricultural credit associations with the funds necessary for according agricultural loans to their members; and whether he will obtain full particulars of this measure for the information of the House?

I have no information, but I will make inquiry.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture whether he is aware that the amounts spent by the Lancashire and Western Sea Fisheries Joint Committee under the terms of the Sea Fisheries (Shellfish) Regulation Act, 1894, on the improvement of public fisheries for shell-fish within their jurisdiction have been reduced annually since 1906; whether he is aware that the Committee have no funds available for this purpose next year; and whether, in view of the benefits derived by the poorer fishermen from the transplantation of shell-fish, he is prepared to recommend a grant in aid of this work from the funds available under the Development Act, 1909?

also asked the Parliamentary Secretary whether he is aware that the only institution for the hatching of marine fish in England is that maintained by the Lancashire Sea Fisheries Committee at Piel, Barrow-in-Furness, entirely out of the local rates; whether he is aware that a similar institution in Scotland is entirely maintained by the Scottish Fishery Board from funds granted from the Imperial Exchequer; and, if so, whether he is prepared to recommend a grant in aid of the former institution from the funds at the disposal of the Development Commissioners under the terms of the Development Act, 1909?

The points raised in the hon. Member's questions are being considered in connection with the proposals which the Board are making to the Development Commissioners.

asked whether, in 1907, the number of agricultural holdings in Lancashire was 22,246, of which 17,584 did not exceed fifty acres each in extent; whether 2,927 were from fifty to 100 acres each; whether, of the 1,735 over 100 acres each, a considerable proportion were either hill or moorland farms unsuitable for small holdings; and whether these figures will be brought up to date?

The number of agricultural holdings exceeding one acre in Lancashire as returned in 1907 was 19,770, of which those not exceeding fifty acres were 14,523. The returns do not show the numbers between 50 and 100 acres, but the numbers between 50 and 300 acres was 5,161. In 1910 the corresponding figures were 19,397, 14,219, and 5,103. Hill and moorland farms are not separately distinguished.

asked the Lord Advocate whether he is aware that the local Members of Parliament have not in any way been consulted in the formation of the Advisory Committees already appointed in Scotland to assist the Lord Chancellor in choosing suitable men for the justice-ship of the peace, but that the local Members are to be consulted in the formation of Committees still to be appointed; and, if so, will he say what steps he proposes to take to represent to the Lord Chancellor this inequality and to have it remedied?

I am informed that my hon. Friend is misinformed as to the facts which he assumes in his question. The Committees are formed to advise the Lord Chancellor, and he does not propose to fetter himself in any way as to the persons to be consulted in forming them, nor has he done so in the past.