asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether Income Tax will be charged on that money which employers have to spend as their contribution to State, insurance?

I will refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for Cheltenham on 25th May.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether any appeal has been lodged against the new claim for an old age pension made by Patrick Sheehan, Mastergeehy, county Kerry; whether he is aware that every effort has been made by the claimant to procure evidence; and can he state when a decision on the case will be given?

An appeal has been received from the pension officer against the decision of the Caherdaniel Pension Sub-committee awarding a pension to a man named Patrick Sheehan, but the papers relating to the case have not yet been received by the Local Government Board.

asked the Chief Secretary whether he is aware that on various occasions since the beginning of June a number of steam trawlers have been fishing as close to Bolus Head, county Kerry, as the safety of their vessels will allow and in contravention of the fishing limits; whether he is aware that the captain of one of these trawlers has been fined ten times, another has been fined twice, and that the depredations of another of these captains, who has already been fined once, has ruined the fishing in St. Finian's Bay; and whether steps will be taken immediately to suspend the certificates of Captains Newman, Possel, and Settersfield before they again break the fishing laws and destroy the local fishing industry?

A statement to the effect mentioned in the first paragraph of the question was recently made to the Department of Agriculture by a gentleman living near Bolus Head. The Department cannot identify the masters of the trawlers referred to, nor are they in a position to verify the statements in the question as to the effect of the steam trawling. Illegal trawling would not be considered an offence for which the certificate of a skipper should be suspended.

asked the Chief Secretary whether his attention has been called to the increased use of motor fishing boats in Scotland; whether he is aware that steps would be taken to equip similar boats in Ballinskelligs, county Kerry, were it not for the illegal practices of the steam trawlers, which have destroyed the local fishing industry; whether he is aware that the steamship "Helga" is incapable of policing the entire West Coast of Ireland; and whether steps will be taken immediately to put an end to the illegal action of the steam trawlers in that part of Kerry?

My right hon. Friend is aware of the increased use of motor boats in Scotland. No applications for motor boats have been received from the fishermen of Ballinskelligs Bay, and he is not aware that the illegal trawling is the reason why such applications have not been lodged. The Department of Agriculture are taking all steps possible for enforcing the trawling restrictions around the Irish Coast. On the Coast of Mayo and elsewhere the local fishermen-have co-operated with the Department by furnishing information upon which many successful prosecutions have been carried out, and the case of this bay would appear to be specially favourable for similar action.

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, if he will say whether the Estates Commissioners' Inspector, Mr. Barrington, undertook to six tenants on the Crookenden and Casey estate, in the townland of Roo, to secure a pass for them from their holdings to the county road; will he say if this pass has yet been provided; and whether it is intended to take any steps in. the matter and, if so, when?

The reply to the first and second paragraphs of the question is in the negative. The question of making roads on this estate is under consideration.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty if the Turkish Government are having battleships built in Great Britain by a shipbuilding group for £12 per ton less than the same group are building the same kind of battleships for the Admiralty?

The answer is in the negative; I can give no further information than that contained in the answer given to my hon. Friend the Member for Bedford in reply to his question of 12th April last.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether workmen who have been employed for less than three months in His Majesty's naval establishments will receive no payment on the occasion of the Coronation public holiday; and if so, whether, in view of his hopes that employers would take into consideration the losses inflicted by enforced holidays, he will favourably consider the advisability of paying such workmen on this occasion?

The reply to the first part of the question is in the negative.

asked the President of the Board of Education how many persons of the staff of the Board of Education of all grades have been retired since 1st April, 1903, under the Regulations of 6th June, 1898, and 4th December, 1909, before reaching the age of sixty-five or becoming qualified for the full pension of two-thirds of their salaries?

The number of persons on the staff of the Board who since 1st April, 1903, have been superannuated between the ages of sixty and sixty-five before qualifying for full pension is seventy-nine. I cannot say how many of these have been retired in the sense that they left otherwise than by their own wish. I should add that officers are retired by virtue of the Orders in Council of 15th August, 1890, 29th November, 1898, and 10th January, 1910, and not by virtue of any regulation of the Board of Education. Under those Orders in Council every officer is liable to be called upon to retire at the age of sixty on such pension as by the length of his service he is qualified to receive. The rules of the Board call attention to the effect of the Orders in Council, and add that in ordinary circumstances no officer will be retained in the service after he is eligible for his full pension.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether his attention has been called to a Bill, introduced by Mr. James S. Simmonds, representative of New York State, in the American Parliament, imposing prohibitive regulations on the importation of nursery stock, and the injury this is calculated to cause exporters from this country; and whether he will take any action in the matter?

I have been informed of the introduction of this Bill, and understand that it is opposed by the nursery interests in the United States. If the Noble Lord wishes I will inquire as to its present position and prospects.

asked the President of the Local Government Board if the numbers of the population in Great Britain and in various counties and boroughs published by the newspaper press and purporting to be the result of the Census were supplied officially; and, if not, whether he can inform the House how these figures were obtained?

Presumably the question relates to figures which were published in the newspapers on or about 25th May. Those figures had been given by me in answer to a question by my hon. Friend the Member for Hoxton on the previous day.

asked the Postmaster-General whether he is aware that in the South Norwood postal district, with an estimated population of 25,000, there is no post office open after 8 p.m. on any night of the week for the sale of postage stamps and the transaction of other postal busi- ness nor any postal telegraph office open within the district on Sundays; whether representations regarding these matters have reached him from the Ratepayers' Association of South Norwood, and whether he can state what steps will be taken to meet the convenience of the population in the foregoing respects?

; The facts are as stated by the hon. Member, and I am having inquiry made whether the circumstances are such as to justify any alteration of the existing arrangements. A reply will be sent to the Ratepayers' Association in due course.