asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, under the National Insurance Bill, small friendly societies who affiliate in order to attain to the requisite number, 10,000, will be compelled to pool their funds, so that one society might benefit at the expense of another?

Small societies which adopt this course will pool one-half of any surpluses which they may realise, but will, of course, gain the advantage of being able to draw on the pool in the case of a deficit. I may perhaps point out that the smaller the society the less applicable is the law of averages, and therefore the greater the fluctuations in its sickness experience.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he has received representations from any firms of coach-builders to the effect that there are reasons for exempting those engaged in the coach-building trade from Part II. of the National Insurance Bill; and, if so, will he say what action he proposes to take?

A communication on the subject referred to has been received from a firm of coach-builders in London. My right hon. Friend is informing the firm that he will consider their representations.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will consider the propriety of introducing into the National Insurance Bill provisions for legal advice at a fixed capitation grant to the lawyers?

I know no reason why less freedom should be given under the Insurance Bill to approved societies and any other persons or bodies that may need legal advice, in regard to the manner of payment for such advice, than has been given in regard to the manner of payments for medical attendance.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the employment of nurses and midwives is contemplated in cases of sickness and maternity under the National Insurance Bill; and, if so, whether the choice in each case would he with the patient?

This would be a matter for the approved society or the local health committee, as the case may be, to arrange.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will state what would be the estimated cost to the Treasury of reducing the age limit from seventy to sixty-five years of age of persons entitled to receive an old age pension upon the present basis?

Any such estimate must necessarily be very conjectural, but, subject to this qualification, it is probable that the additional cost would not be less than £7,750,000.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his attention has been called to the fact that Mr. D. O'Carroll, clerk to the Castle-comer District Council and the local pension committee, issued a public appeal to the old age pensioners of his district for a 1s. subscription to the Irish Parliamentary party as a mark of their appreciation of the labours of the Irish party in securing the passage of the Old Age Pensions Act, and has forwarded the moneys thus obtained from old age pensioners to the Irish party fund; and whether he will take any step to mark his disapproval of the conduct of a public official paid out of Treasury moneys in levying this political tribute off the old people?

I will inquire into the circumstances to which the hon. Member refers.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he will direct the Estates Commissioners to carry out their promise long since made of reinstating the representative of Mrs. Catherine Dempsey on the holding from which she was evicted on the estate of H. B. Trench, county Galway?

The Estates Commissioners inform me that proceedings have been instituted for the purchase of this estate under Section 6 of the Irish Land Act, 1903. The case referred to by the hon. Member will be considered when the estate is being dealt with in order of priority.

asked the Chief Secretary the cause of the delay in completing the sale of Lord Clonbrock's Anansbury and Castlegar estate, in the county of Galway; and will he direct the Commissioners to complete the same with as little delay as possible?

This estate has not yet been reached in order of priority to be dealt with under the Irish Land Act, 1903. When reached it will be dealt with as rapidly as possible.

asked the Chief Secretary whether the total amount of the purchase money has been paid to the landlord or his representatives in the case of the estate of Baron Anally, situated at New Birmingham, Thurles, county Tipperary, purchased by the tenants in 1904; whether the Estates Commissioners have retained any portion of the purchase price; whether the full amount of the purchase price as specfied in the agreements to purchase signed by Philip Fogarty, Glangvole, and James Morris, Mellisane, have been paid to the landlord; and whether he can state the total amount retained and held by the Estates Commissioners as well as the proportionate amount retained in the case of Fogarty and Morris?

The hon. Member presumably refers to the holdings of Philip Fogarty and Thomas Morris on the property of C. W. White and another, county Tipperary, which were sold to the occupying tenants through the medium of the Land Commission as distinguished from the Estates Commissioners. An advance of £1,140 was made to Philip Fogarty on the 7th July, 1904, for the purchase of his holding in the townlands of Glengoole North and Derryvella. A guarantee deposit of £285 was retained by the Land Commission on the occasion of the sale of the lands through the Land Judge's Court. This deposit has not been released. Thomas Morris obtained an advance of £1,199 on the 25th July, 1902, to purchase his holding in the townland of Poyntstown in similar circumstances. No guarantee deposit was retained in this case. The purchase money of these holdings was transferred to the Land Judge for distribution. The case of James Morris cannot be identified.

asked whether, having regard to the number of evicted tenants' claims still undecided, the Evicted Tenants Act will be included in the Expiring Laws Continuance Bill; and whether the Lord Lieutenant will issue instructions to the Estates Commissioners, under the Purchase Act of 1903, to pay special atttention to the claims of evicted tenants rejected in consequence of legal technicalities, with a view to compensating them either by a pecuniary gratuity or by providing them with farms out of such untenanted lands on the Estates Commissioners' hands as may be available?

The Estates Commissioners are endeavouring to provide for the persons noted as suitable for reinstatement as rapidly as possible on untenanted land acquired by them under the Land Acts of 1903–9 and the Evicted Tenants Acts. The question of including the Evicted Tenants Act in the Expiring Laws Continuance Bill will be considered in due course. It would not be desirable to reopen the cases which the Commissioners have already considered and rejected.

asked whether Mr. Olphart, R.M., had power to divide the petty session of Ballivor, arranging that part of it should go to Longwood and part to Trim; and, if not, by whose authority the division was made?

The Ballivor petty sessions district has not been divided in any way, and such a division can only be made under Statute by the majority of magistrates at Quarter Sessions.

asked whether the Local Government Board has issued a letter addressed to the rural district coun- cils in Ireland as to the proper method of carrying out the erection of houses under the Labourers (Ireland) Acts by direct labour; and, if so, whether the Chief Secretary will mention the date of issue of such letter?

The Local Government Board have not issued any circular letter to rural district councils on this subject. A rural district council has occasionally found it necessary to have some of the authorised cottages erected by "direct labour" owing to the difficulty in obtaining contractors for the work at reasonable prices, and to meet such cases the Board thought it well to have regulations drawn up for observance by local authorities and their officers. These regulations were framed in January, 1910, but are only issued from time to time as each case arises.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty, with reference to the case of Colonel Brabazon, whether, as the Admiralty do not dispute that Colonel Brabazon on being appointed Deputy Naval Ordnance officer retained his rights as an Army officer, and could not be invalided out of the service without the finding of a military medical board, that in his case there was no such finding, and the War Office, on being informed of the circumstances, did not consider it possible to gazette him to half-pay, and that the Admiralty, nevertheless, purported to put him on half-pay from the 16th August, 1908, to the 29th June, 1909, with a consequent loss to him of £283 10s., their Lordships will now reconsider their decision, and cause the above sum to be made good to Colonel Brabazon; and, if not, on what ground that sum can be withheld from him without infringing his admitted rights?

I would remind the hon. and learned Gentleman of my reply to his question on this subject of the 9th March last, and of the second part of my reply to a further question on the 15th May. It is the practice of the War Office to gazette the placing of officers on half-pay, and they did not consider it possible to antedate a notice in the Gazette in the case of Colonel Brabazon. It is not the Admiralty practice, and Colonel Brabazon was paid his half-pay without a Gazette notice to that effect. I am not aware that the publication of the dates of half-pay in the Gazette can be regarded as a privilege, or that any right possessed by Colonel Brabazon has been infringed.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty if he can say how soon R. Blackburn, of Brampton Abbots, Herefordshire, a candidate for a Greenwich Hospital age pension, is likely to obtain the pension?

Blackburn's claims will be considered in due course with those of other candidates.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War what is the present strength of the Army Reserve?

The strength of the Army Reserve on the 1st May amounted to very nearly 200,000. The exact figures cannot be given, as the figures for category (b) of the Special Reserve are not available for that date.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether anything is being done to improve the training at present given to subaltern officers in the Yeomanry; and, if not, whether, in view of its urgency, he will move in the matter forthwith?

The question of possible improvements in the training of officers of the Territorial Force has recently been under consideration by a Committee specially appointed for that purpose, and the report of this Committee will shortly be available for the consideration of the Army Council. There shall be no delay in dealing with the matter.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether, in view of the possibility that the Veteran Reserve may in the near future reach 100,000 or 200,000 men, he can say whether they could be provided immediately with rifles, ammunition, and uniforms to meet a sudden invasion or emergency; if so, from what sources these will be drawn; and what class of rifles would be served out?

I have nothing to add to the reply given to a question put on this subject by the hon. Member on the 21st March. It is not considered desirable to publish any information concerning the reserve stocks of munitions of war.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the municipal officials who were found guilty of corruption and maladministration by the Commission appointed by the Governor of the Straits Settlements, which reported in September, 1910, have been removed from their posts; and what action has been taken to prevent the recurrence of the evils disclosed by the Commission?

One of the municipal officials whose conduct was unfavourably reported on by the Commission resigned his appointment and left the Colony; and another will be retired on the reorganisation of the municipality. As regards the second part of my hon. Friend's question I would refer to the reply I gave on the 4th May to a question asked by my hon. Friend the Member for Leicester.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for India if he will say what was the Indian Finance Minister's estimate of net opium revenue for the year 1910–11; and what was the actual receipt?

The Budget Estimate was £3,550,100. The revised Estimate, including the actual figures for the first eight months of the financial year, is £6,274,000.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if the Trade Unions (No. 2) Bill is to be construed as providing that a member of a trade union who is expelled from his union without reason assigned, or for a reason which the expelled person regards as insufficient or unjust, will be freed in any legal proceedings he may take to obtain his restoration to membership of the union or for recovering benefits for which he has a claim against the union from any disability which may, under the law as it at present stands, be held to attach to him on the ground that the trade union, as operating in restraint of trade, cannot be held to the fulfilment of its engagements, or some of them, towards its members?

Under the Bill, a member of a trade union who is expelled from his union in breach of Clause 3 would, I am advised, have a right of action in the Courts of Law to restrain the trade union from expelling him. That is the law as laid down in the recent decision of the Court of Appeal in Osborne v. Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants and a former decision of the House of Lords (Yorkshire Miners v. Howden.)

asked the Home Secretary if he is aware that the attention of Members of the House continues to be drawn from time to time to the hard manner in which the present jury system bears on small tradesmen who have no assistants and on wage-earners who suffer loss of earnings when called upon to attend as jurymen; and whether he has been able to give further consideration to the question of dealing with this recognised hardship, and proposes to take any steps to obtain an inquiry into the whole system as a preliminary to legislation?

I am well aware of the defects of the present system of selecting jurors, and, as I informed the House on the 27th April last, I am of opinion that some inquiry into the subject is desirable. I cannot, however, make any further statement at present.

asked the President of the Local Government Board what reason, if any, did the Farnham and Croydon Boards of Guardians give for declining to act upon the suggestion of the Local Government Board to award gratuities to their vaccination officers to meet the loss of income sustained by them in consequence of the Vaccination Act and Order, 1907, and also to increase the fees now paid to these officers?

The Farnham Board of Guardians did not agree with the method suggested by the Local Government Board. They wished that a fee should be paid in respect of each case of exemption. The Croydon Board of Guardians, who had previously granted a gratuity to the officer in respect of losses which he had suffered in consequence of the increase of exemptions, stated, when the matter was brought before them again last year, that they did not see their way either to increase the fees payable to the vaccination officer or to award him any further gratuity for any loss he may have sustained.

asked the Postmaster-General whether it is by his instruction and approval that hours of attendance in the London sorting offices, which have stood for years, have been recently adjusted, and weekly aggregations of thirteen minutes, less than two and a half minutes a day, and in some instances five minutes, less than one minute a day, are to be worked back on Saturdays; and is it realised that for officers who have to travel by train and tram to and from the offices, such an arrangement gives rise to inconvenience?

It was recently necessary to adjust the attendances of some of the London sorters so as to bring them up to forty-eight hours a week, i.e., to the normal for that class of officer. I find that in one district it was arranged for the duties to be adjusted on one day only, and I have now given instructions for the attendances to be divided as equally as possible between the six week days.

asked the Postmaster-General whether, for all periods less than fifteen minutes worked in excess of the normal duty on any one day, no claim can be entered; and, if so, on what grounds do the Department claim from the staff for periods aggregating less than fifteen minutes in a whole week; and has he expressed himself opposed to any extension of the long and short duties?

The rule governing payment for overtime is that attendance of thirty minutes or more beyond the scheduled time on any day—periods of as much as fifteen minutes on each of two or more attendances being aggregated—should be accumulated for the week. If any of the overtime has been worked between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. an addition of one-seventh of such time is made to the week's claim, and payment at the extra duty rate, i.e., ordinary rate and a quarter, is then made for the result- ing total rounded down to the last completed quarter of an hour. The rule with regard to rounding down has been in force for many years, and is, I think, not unreasonable.

asked the Postmaster-General if he could now state whether a monetary allowance would be made to cleaners to compensate them for the loss of uniform?

I am not yet in a position to make a statement on this matter, which has required careful consideration, in view of its bearing on other classes. I hope to be able to announce a decision at an early date.

asked the Postmaster-General whether it is intended to close the branch post office at Walham Green at 9 p.m.; whether he is aware that considerable inconvenience will thereby be caused to a large number of residents; and whether, as one result of closing it, the male staff will be diminished and the female staff proportionately increased?

The question of closing the branch office at Walham Green at 9 p.m. instead of 10 p.m. has been under consideration; but a decision has not been arrived at. The change if brought about would have no effect on the numbers of the female officers employed.

asked the Lord Advocate can he state the number of foreign trawlers seen fishing in the Moray Firth and in the Firth within the three-mile limit, respectively, during the year 1910?

I am informed that, during the year 1910 thirty-eight foreign trawlers were seen fishing in the Moray Firth on 234 occasions, and four foreign trawlers were seen on five occasions fishing within the three-mile limit or within territorial waters as defined by the Convention of 1882.