asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether under Clause 2 of the National Insurance Bill the receipt of poor relief will constitute dependence upon some other person; and whether an insured person will have to pay arrears of contributions for any period passed in the workhouse, or what course is proposed to be adopted?

The answer to the first part of the question is in the negative. The position as regards arrears will not be affected by the contributor having been in the workhouse during the period in respect of which the arrears accrued.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether under Clause 2 of the Insurance Bill a person employed for only two, three, or four days a week will be held to be employed for less than thirty-nine weeks in the year?

This is the intention of the Clause.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether it will be possible for boards of guardians to send Poor Law cases to sanatoria established under the National Insurance Bill?

The position of sanatoria which are established by means of Grants from the Local Government Board, in regard to the accommodation of patients other than insured persons, will be a matter for arrangement.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, in estimating the total remuneration received by an agricultural labourer for the purposes of the National Insurance Bill, the estimate of the economic annual value of his cottage will be based upon the rent, if any, paid in respect of it, or how otherwise will such value be ascertained?

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my right hon. Friend on Tuesday.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether it is intended that, under Clause 9 (2) of the National Insurance Bill, an agricultural labourer receiving a wage of 14s. shall be deprived of the full sickness benefit of 10s. per week, although in fact he is paying the same weekly premium as the town artisan, who receives more than double his wage, and belongs to a class having a higher standard of health and therefore making a smaller aggregate demand upon the National Insurance Fund?

The hon. Member fails, I think, to realise that the whole of the saving arising from a reduction of sick pay under Clause 9 (2) and the whole of the saving arising from a better standard of health among the members of any approved society remain in the hands of the society for additional benefits. A society composed of agricultural labourers will thus get whatever insurance their contributions, with the assistance of their employers and of the State, will buy.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he can state what proportion of the existing friendly societies have a membership of 5,000 and upwards; and whether he is aware that there exist all over the country hundreds of village friendly societies, many of them over a hundred years old, and most of them having a substantial financial balance to their credit, whose members are most tenacious of their separate corporate existence, and who could not in any case by associating with neighbouring villages constitute a joint association of 5,000 members; and how he proposes to render the Bill acceptable to such societies?

My right hon. Friend has already stated that he is prepared to consider amendments on the subject of numbers. I may point out, however, that societies which associate together for the purposes of the State scheme need by no means lose their individuality. Particulars are not available of the proportion of societies with a membership of 5,000 and upwards; but the hon. Member will realise that, owing to the great influx of new members which will take place in many cases when the Bill passes, information on that point would throw very little light on the number of societies which would be affected by any specified numerical limit.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the friendly societies, as recognised societies under the National Insurance Bill, will be compelled to disclose their reason for refusing to accept any person who wishes to become a member of their society

The answer is in the negative.

asked what provision is to be made in the National Insurance Bill with regard to civil servants where the terms of employment do not secure provision in respect of sickness and disablement on the whole not less favourable than the corresponding benefits conferred by Part I. of the Act; and will the State in such eases pay the employer's contribution?

In the circumstances described a civil servant would be compulsorily insured and the State would pay the employer's contribution.

asked whether a person engaged in manual labour and earning thereby remuneration exceeding £160 a yar will be compulsorily insured under the National Insurance Bill?

The reply is in the affirmative.

asked whether the members of the advisory committee to be appointed under Clause 42 of the National Insurance Bill will be remunerated for their services; and whether they will become civil servants?

I will refer the hon. Member to the reply of my right hon. Friend the Financial Secretary to the Treasury to the hon. Member for Plymouth to-day.

asked what is the probable number of persons of all grades who will be employed by the State to carry out the provisions of Part I. of the National Insurance Bill, and also what will be the approximate annual cost in salaries?

I will refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for Plymouth yesterday.

also asked whether the appointments of 'officers, inspectors, referees, and servants referred to in Clause 41 (2) of the National Insurance Bill will be thrown open to public competition, or whether such appointments will be filled by Government patronage?

I will refer the hon. Member to my right hon. Friend's replies to the hon. Member for West Bradford on the 30th May and to my hon. Friend the Member for North Somerset on the 1st June.

asked the Chief Secretary if he can state what was the civilian and military population of the town of Athlone, Ireland, in the year 1901 as compared with the same returns in the 1911 Census?

The Registrar-General informs me that the population of Athlone in 1901 was 6,617, of whom 520 were military. The corresponding figures for 1911 are not yet available.

asked the Chief Secretary what steps the Board of National Education (Ireland) propose to take, and how soon, with a view to providing educational opportunities for, and to save from growing up in ignorance, the fourteen children of school-going age whose parents reside in the valley between Erriff Bridge and Aasleagh, in the parish of Aghagower, county Mayo, and who have no such opportunities at present?

The question of erecting a new schoolhouse on a convenient site in this district to replace an existing unsuitable building is at present under the consideration of the Commissioners of National Education, but they are not yet in a position to determine what they may be able to do in the interest of these children.

asked the Chief Secretary if he will state why John Grady, of Lacken, Birdhill, county Tipperary, was refused the old age pension by the Local Government Board although allowed by the local pension committee; and if he will now be placed on the list of old age pensioners?

The Local Government Board disallowed John O'Grady's claim to a pension on the ground that his means, as calculated in accordance with the pro- visions of the Old Age Pensions Act, exceeded the statutory limit. It is not open to the Board to reconsider their decision.

asked the Chief Secretary why Mrs. Margaret Enright, Riddlestown, Rathkeale, county Limerick, has not yet received the old age pension, although the pension officer stated to her that she would be entitled to it from the 7th April last?

Margaret Enright in her claim stated she was about seventy years of age, but she furnished no satisfactory evidence in support of her contention and at different times made contradictory statements as regards her age at the time of her marriage in 1865. The Local Government Board therefore disallowed her claim on the ground that she had failed to show that she fulfilled the statutory conditions as to age.

asked the Chief Secretary why Mrs. Annie Keating Fitzgerald, of Rathkeale, county Limerick, has not received the old age pension, having regard to the fact that the local pension committee granted it to her; whether he is aware that, not being able to get her baptismal certificate, she got the testimony of a most respectable man, stating that he knew her fifty years ago, and that she was then a young woman, and should now be over seventy years; and whether she will now receive the pension?

The Local Government Board are unable to trace the receipt of any appeal in the case of Mrs. Annie Keating Fitzgerald of Rathkeale.

asked on what ground has Mr. Hugh Barron, of Ballyshannon, who had been declared entitled by the Ballyshannon sub-committee to a pension of 5s. a week from the 16th December, 1910, which he was paid for several months, been deprived of that pension, having regard to the fact that his age qualification is undoubted?

In October, 1909, the pension sub-committee, on a question raised by the pension officer as to the age of the pensioner Barron, determined that he did not fulfil the statutory condition as to age, and the Local Government Board, after full investigation, confirmed this decision when Barron appealed to them. Meanwhile a second claim had been rejected by the sub-committee. In Decem- ber last, however, the sub-committee allowed a pension again, but the Board in January disallowed it when the pension officer appealed. Barron's family could not be found in the 1841 Census, but was traced in the 1851 Returns, his age being given as eight years. No evidence was produced to show that this record was incorrect, or that he was qualified as to age.

asked the President of the Local Government Board whether he can give the latest figures as to the number of men and women respectively receiving old age pensions in the United Kingdom?

The total number of old age pensioners in the United Kingdom on the last Friday in March, 1911, was as follows:—

Men.	Women.	Total.
333,050	674,411	907,461

No later figures are yet available.

asked whether the estates of Mr. D. Mortimer, situate in the townlands of Leitrim and Lislin, on the borders of Meath and Cavan, have been offered for sale to the Estates Commissioners; and with what result?

The Estates Commissioners had an inspection made of certain lands on the estate of D. A. Mortimer, and communicated to the owner their preliminary estimate of the price which they would be prepared to advance for the lands if formal proceedings for sale to the Commissioners were instituted by the owner. The owner has not since instituted such proceedings.

asked the Chief Secretary what has been the result of the negotiations on the part of the Estates Commissioners to purchase the untenanted lands on the Massy estate, situate at Ballylin and Glenville, in the county of Limerick; whether he is aware that the district about these untenanted lands is a congested one; and whether the Estates Commissioners, in the event of the negotiations to purchase the lands falling through, will put the compulsory provisions of the Land Act, 1909, into operation to acquire them for the smallholders and labourers in the locality?

The Estates Commissioners have had a preliminary inspection made of the lands and have communicated to the owner's solicitors their estimate of the price they would advance if formal proceedings for sale are instituted under the Land Purchase Acts. Proceedings for sale have not been instituted up to the present. The matters referred to in the concluding portion of the question have not been considered by the Commissioners.

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if he can say whether the Estates Commissioners received a copy of a resolution passed at a public meeting in Glin, county Limerick, requesting them to take steps to reinstate Mr. James Sheehy, of Buncurrig, Ballyheigue, in his farm at Ballygoughlan, Glin, from which his father and himself were evicted in June, 1881; whether he is aware that Mr. Lenihan, who is in occupation of the farm, is willing to give up possession of it on receiving compensation; and further if he can say what action the Estates Commissioners intend to take in the case?

The Estates Commissioners have received a copy of the Resolution referred to. I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given yesterday to the similar question of the hon. Member for North Kerry.

asked the Chief Secretary whether it has come under his notice that the deputy returning officer for the election of county councillors for the county of Louth, in the county electoral division of Drogheda, acting in defiance of the returning officer, insisted upon placing before the electors a ballot paper containing eight names, two of whom had withdrawn in proper time, and closed the polls and adjourned them until the following day, although the returning officer had provided proper ballot papers containing six names only; whether the adjourned poll was open between the hours of 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. as required by the L.G.S. Act for Ireland; whether the deputy returning officer, in contravention of the order which requires ballot papers to be of the same colour throughout the county, adopted papers coloured blue instead of white as fixed by the returning officer; whether the Local Government Board have any power to override the decision of the returning officer as to withdrawals without consulting him; whether they are in order in communicating direct with the deputy returning officer; and will the order forthwith that a new election will be had, adopting the preliminary steps already taken on publication of a notice of poll?

Under the terms of the Election Orders it devolved on the town clerk of Drogheda, as deputy returning officer, to carry out all the duties in relation to the election of county councillors for the Drogheda County Electoral Division, and, while the Local Government Board have no jurisdiction to question the manner in which he conducted the election referred to, it appears to them that his return is valid, and can only be upset by order of a competent court. The trouble which arose in this case was due to the action of the returning officer in interfering with the town clerk's arrangements.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty if he will state the number of cases of small-pox in the Navy reported annually from 1897 to the present time; and what are the regulations in regard to vaccination in the Navy?

presented the following-statement (I.) showing the number of cases of small-pox in the Royal Navy for the years 1897–1910 inclusive:—

Year					No. of Cases.
1897	…	…	…	…	51
1898	…	…	…	…	24
1899	…	…	…	…	15
1900	…	…	…	…	13
1901	…	…	…	…	9
1902	…	…	…	…	15
1903	…	…	…	…	3
1904	…	…	…	…	12
1905	…	…	…	…	2
1906	…	…	…	…	6
1907	…	…	…	…	3
1908	…	…	…	…	4
1909	…	…	…	…	Nil.
1910	…	…	…	…	1

Also (II.) Regulation respecting vaccination in the Navy:—All persons entering the Service are to be revaccinated; should no results follow on the first operation, a second vaccination is invariably to be performed. In the case of candidates for artificer and artisan ratings, the operation is to be deferred till they have been finally accepted for the Service. All persons who have not been re-vaccinated between their first entry into the Service and the age of eighteen shall be re-vaccinated as soon as possible, however good their primary vac- cination cicatrices may appear, or even should they present unmistakable evidence of having suffered from small-pox previous to that age. The re-vaccination is to be made with calf lymph from a recognised establishment which is carried on under proper supervision. No person shall be considered re-vaccinated who has had the operation performed with lymph taken from the arm of a re-vaccianted person, but all persons so re-vaccinated shall again be vaccinated with lymph taken from the sources specified above. A notation of the date of re-vaccination is to be made by the medical officer on each man's medical history sheet, specifying the result, whether successful or otherwise, and such cases are only to be considered successful in which either vesicles, normal or modified, or papules surrounded by areolæ, have resulted. When the first operation is followed by no result, which should, however, be rare when it has been carefully performed, vaccination should be repeated in fourteen days from the first attempt. The medical officer, as soon as convenient after he joins a ship, will satisfy himself by personal inspection that each officer and man has been successfully vaccinated, and when necessary re-vaccinated, and so also with regard to every officer and man who may subsequently join, except those borne for disposal or as temporary supernumeraries in home ships, and whose stay in them will be but short.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War, in view of the fact that in 1908 and 1909 two expeditions were employed in bringing a large area in the North of Southern Nigeria, before unexplored, under control, when a good deal of active resistance was met with and a considerable number of casualities occurred among our troops, whether it is proposed to issue medals to our officers and men concerned in these two operations, namely, the Northern Hinterland Patrol, Colonel H. C. Moor-house, D.S.O., commanding, January to April, 1908, and the Niger Cross River Expedition, Colonel H. M. Trenchard, D.S.O., commanding, December, 1908, to April, 1909?

The cases of these two expeditions have been carefully considered, and it has been decided that the operations were not of sufficient importance to warrant the publication of the despatches in the Gazette or the grant of a medal. Certain native soldiers were in each case, however, granted the West African Frontier Force Distinguished Conduct Medal.

asked the Under-Secretary for War if he will publish in the quarterly "Army List" the names of officers who, on retirement from the Militia, Volunteer, Special Reserve, or Territorial Forces, had sufficient qualifying service to entitle them to the privilege, and were permitted to retain their rank and wear the uniform of their corps; whether he is aware that persons who on retirement had not sufficient qualifying service, and therefore not entitled to the privilege, assume the rank and at times wear the uniform, and what steps he proposes to take to stop such irregularities; and whether such persons are liable to prosecution under the Act of Parliament introduced to prevent the wearing of His Majesty's uniforms by unauthorised persons?

If the hon. Member will refer to pages 2111 to 2140 of the current official "Army List," published quarterly, he will find that the names of the officers in question are so included. No cases have been brought to the notice of the War Office in which persons with insufficient qualifying service have worn the uniform to which they were not entitled, but under the law governing such cases persons so acting render themselves liable to penalties.

asked the Under Secretary of State for India whether he is aware that members of the Indian Civil Service appointed to the Punjab are at a disadvantage compared with members of the same service appointed to the United Provinces, Lower Bengal, Eastern Bengal, Madras, and Bombay, the rates of pay for many grades being lower than those attached to similar grades in these other provinces; whether the dissatisfaction due to this inequality has been represented by numerous memorials addressed to the Government of India; and whether the Secretary of State will cause inquiry to be made into the circumstances with a view of rectifying any inequality of treatment?

The rates of pay for the Indian Civil Service in different provinces are not, and never have been, uniform. The Secretary of State has not received from the Government of India any intimation that discontent has been caused in the Punjab by the fact that in some grades the pay differs from that of corresponding posts elsewhere. But it has been recognised that owing to a block of promotion, junior members of the service in that province were in an unsatisfactory position, and the Secretary of State in Council sanctioned last year a proposal of the Government of India for improving the pay of nine assistant commissioners.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is able to report any progress as regards the question of a National Sea Fisheries Convention for the English Channel on similar lines to the existing North Sea Convention?

I have nothing to add to my written reply to the hon. Member for Plymouth on 24th March last. His Majesty's Government still await the views of the French Government on the subject.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether his attention has been drawn to the proposal made in Germany that the German Empire should annex the Ovambo territory, which lies to the north of German South-West Africa; and whether he will resist any attempts at further German encroachment in Africa?

I hear that a proposal to develop the Ovambo territory has appeared in a local paper, but as it is already part of German South-West Africa there would be no question of encroachment if such a proposal were carried out.

asked the Prime Minister whether, in 1906, he appointed a permanent Committee to advise the Treasury in regard to grants to university colleges; who were the members of that Committee; whether the administration of the grants to university colleges has been transferred from the Treasury to the Board of Education; whether a committee has been appointed to advise the Board; whether the members of the; permanent Committee of the Treasury have been invited to serve on the Board of Education Committee; and, if not, will he say why this has not been done?

The answers to the first, third, and fourth paragraphs of the question are in the affirmative, and to the fifth in the negative. The members of the last Treasury Committee were Dr. Woods (chairman), Sir Francis Mowatt, Sir William Collins, Professor Henry Jackson, Dr. McCormick, with Mr. Ogilvie and Dr. Heath of the Board of Education. The members of the new committee, appointed by the President of the Board of Education, will be announced by him in a few days. It is considered desirable that no member of the Committee should be closely associated with any of the institutions participating in the Grant.

asked the President of the Local Government Board, with reference to the case of the boy Kent, who was vaccinated at Louth Wharf by Dr. Swainston, did the doctor act on his own responsibility or was he acting on instructions; and, if so, by whom were the instructions given?

I have no information on the subject of this question.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he can state the total cost of the British section of the International Exhibition at Brussels in 1910, and the amount of money received by the Exhibitions Branch of the Board of Trade from exhibitors; the total estimated cost of the British section of the Turin Exhibition, 1911, and the total amount of money received or receivable from exhibitors at that exhibition?

A grant of £135,000 was made in respect of the three exhibitions at Brussels, Rome and Turin conjointly, and it is not possible at present to state the cost of each separately. In the case of Brussels an additional grant of £57,100 was made for reconstructing the British section and to replace losses owing to the fire. The sum received by the exhibitions branch from British exhibitors at Brussels for rent of space occupied was £10,614, and in the case of Turin it is estimated that the amount will be about £ll,000.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he will give the cost of Labour Exchanges up to the 31st of March last?

The total cost of the Labour Exchanges from the passing of the Labour Exchanges Act to 31st March of this year, in respect of salaries, travelling expenses, and stationery and cost of buildings, was, approximately, £250,000. This total includes capital expenditure in respect of premises.

asked the Postmaster-General whether he is aware that injury is done to the butter industry in Ireland by the refusal of the Post Office to provide baskets for the protection of parcels; whether several customers in England have refused to accept delivery of parcels of butter owing to their condition, which was caused by being conveyed in bags; and whether, seeing the great injury that is thus being done to this industry, steps will be at once taken to provide proper baskets for the conveyance of parcels of a perishable nature?

I have received representations from a few butter makers in Ireland that parcels of butter cannot safely be conveyed through the post in bags, and I am making inquiries on the subject.

asked the Postmaster-General if he can state what steps have been taken to erect a telegraph office at Valentia Harbour, to the necessity for which his attention has been frequently called in consequence of the important fishing industry which is carried on in that district?

A temporary telegraph office for the remainder of the fishing season was opened at Valentia Harbour on the 5th instant.

asked the Postmaster-General whether there is any difference in the work performed by the counter clerks and telegraphists at the Grafton Street sub-post office and that of the corresponding class in the neighbouring branch office; whether he will state the mean cost of a male counter clerk and telegraphist at the Oxford Street branch office, a female counter clerk and telegraphist at the Regent Street branch office, and that of a salaried sub-office assistant at the Grafton Street sub-office; and whether the scales of pay at the Grafton Street office are in direct accordance with any recommendations of the Hobhouse Committee?

There is no essential difference between the work performed by the counter staff at the Grafton Street sub-office and that performed by the similar staff at the neighbouring branch offices. The mean pay of a male counter clerk and telegraphist at the Oxford Street branch office is 44s., and the mean pay of a female counter clerk and telegraphist at the Regent Street branch office is 32s. a week. These are established officers. The staff employed at the Grafton Street office (which will eventually be abolished) is not established, but is composed of assistants. The wages paid (with the exception of the wages of the officer in charge, who received 38s. a week) are the wages usually paid to assistants employed by sub-postmasters on such work. The Parliamentary Committee did not deal with assistants employed by sub-postmasters.

asked the postmaster-General whether he will state why a special postal service from Dava to Glenferness, Nairnshire, which had existed for eleven years, was discontinued in 1909 without any substitute being provided; is he aware that, although the district is within five-and-a-half miles from a railway station, a letter written after 7.30 p.m. will not now be collected till 4.0 p.m. the following afternoon, and reach London two days later, an interval of three days in all; that, on being approached by the Post Office authorities in December, 1908, the Ardclach parish council had represented that the despatch of letters from Glenferness district should be accelerated, and that no reply had ever been received; whether he is aware that in March or April last communications had again been received by the Postmaster-General from the same parish council, and from the parish council of Auldearn, suggesting accelerations of delivery and despatch of mails within the parish of Ardclach and Auldearn, and that a motor mail be run from Nairn to Glenferness via Auldearn, and that no reply has been received; can he say whether such a service will be established; and, if not, whether other means are to be taken to improve the existing arrangements, and when?

The special service from Dava to Glenferness to which the hon. Member refers was afforded during certain months of the year only, and was discontinued as the circumstances had altered and no longer justified its maintenance. The suggestion made by the Ardclach Parish Council to the district surveyor was carefully considered, but there were practical difficulties which precluded its adoption. Inquiries are being made as regards the improvments indicated in the latter part of the hon. Member's question, which, I understand, involve a considerable readjustment of services, and I will communicate the result to him.

asked the Postmaster-General if he is aware that liftmen entering the Post Office service after forty-five years of age are not permitted to become established hands and are only entitled to reach a maximum wage of 24s. per week, or 2s. less than a porter's wage; and whether he will consider the propriety of allowing them to be placed on the establishment, and thereby reach the maximum wage of 28s. per week?

I regret that I can find no grounds for making the situation of liftman in London an established one consistently with the principles which govern the establishment of appointments.

asked the Postmaster-General whether any decision has been arrived at in regard to the conversion into branch offices of the sub-post offices at Lewisham, Acton, and East Ham?

The conversion into branch offices of the sub-post offices at Lewisham, Acton, and East Ham has been decided upon.

asked the Lord Advocate whether the appointment of procurators of burghs in Scotland is an annual one, and if procurators on their appointment are required to take oath for the faithful discharge of their duties, and also on reappointment; whether he can state when the procurator of the Royal burgh of Linlithgow was appointed, and on what date he took the oath after his appointment; and whether if reappointed he has taken the oath since his reappointment; and if he has acted as procurator in police courts without having taken the oath why he was not required to take the oath?

The appointment of burgh procurator is made by the town council under the Burgh Police (Scotland) Acts, and the office is held at the pleasure of the town council. I am informed the burgh procurator in Linlithgow was appointed on 26th January, 1885, and took the oath of office on appointment. He has remained in office since that date, no re-appointment being required.

asked the Lord Advocate whether he is aware that in the book of rules and regulations governing the appointment of inspector of poor issued by the Local Government Board for Scotland it is stated that a practising solicitor, procurator fiscal, or factor shall not hold the said appointment, and that notwithstanding these regulations the Local Government Board of Scotland have sanctioned, although their attention was drawn to the facts, the appointment as inspector of poor of the parish of Linlithgow of a person holding all the offices besides a number of other public offices; and, if so, whether he will require the Local Government Board for Scotland to give their reasons for sanctioning the appointment, and, in view of their own regulations, to withdraw their sanction and to reinstate the old inspector, whom the parish council has appointed assistant inspector with practically all the work, with the exception of a small amount of clerical work, to do, or appoint a person as inspector of poor who will be able to devote the whole of his time to the duties?

I am aware that in the book of Rules and Regulations, etc., of the Local Government Board for Scotland, it is stated that a practising solicitor procurator-fiscal, or factor, ought not to hold the appointment of inspector of poor. In practice, however, these conditions are subject to modification in particular instances, and the Board invariably consider each appointment on its merits. They have made careful inquiry into the appointment of the inspector of poor of Linlithgow and were satisfied that there was no sufficient reason for interfering with the discretion of the parish council.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether a petition has been received by his Department for presentation to His Majesty the King with reference to the case of Captain Blakeley, R.N.; and, if so, whether the inquiry therein prayed for will be held?

A petition has been received, and laid before his Majesty, who has commanded that it be forwarded to the Secretary of State for War.

asked the hon. Member for Southampton, as representing the First Commissioner of Works, whether he is aware that on the occasion of the Coronation portions of Westminster Abbey were partitioned off and fitted up and used as latrines; and whether this was done with the consent and authority of the Office of Works?

The answer to the hon. Member's question is in the affirmative.