asked the First Lord of the Admiralty, whether he is aware that a committee of three admirals, including two who subsequently served as First Sea Lords, which reported on the naval manœuvres of 1888, declared that every battleship in a blockading fleet should be accompanied by at least one cruiser; whether he is aware that the number of battleships building, or not launched more than twenty years, is sixty-three, and the number of protected cruisers seventy; and whether he will say what provision will be made for the defence of our trade routes after an adequate number of cruisers has been allotted to the battle fleet?

The report of 1888 was made before wireless telegraphy was invented which has greatly altered the conditions. The number of battleships and protected cruisers, including Canadian and Australian, is correct, but to these must be added forty-three armoured cruisers.

Can the right hon. Gentleman state the number of cruisers fitted with wireless telegraphy?

I have given the hon. Gentleman a full answer to the question on the Paper.

asked how many protected cruisers with a designed speed of twenty-one knots or over are completed or building for the British and German navies, respectively?

Exclusive of six "Boadiceas" built and building, and eight scouts—all of which are classed as "unprotected" in the Dickinson Return, although they have protective decks— there are eighteen protected cruisers in His Majesty's Navy completed or building, that have a designed speed of twenty-one knots or over. The number for Germany is thirty-one. In neither case do the figures given include the ships of this year's programme.

asked how many protected cruisers were launched for the British and German Navies, respectively, in the ten years from 1891 to 1900; and how many in the ten years from 1901 to 1910, inclusive?

In the ten years from 1891 to 1900 there were sixty-five protected cruisers launched for the British Navy. During the subsequent ten years from 1901 to 1910, there have been thirteen protected cruisers launched for the British Navy. The figure thirteen is exclusive of five vessels launched of the "Boadicea" class and eight scouts, which are classed as "unprotected" in the Dickinson Return, although they have protective decks. The figures for Germany are:

asked what is the number of officers and men now actually serving on the active list of the Royal Navy; and what number of reserves would be available during the first week of a naval war?

The numbers borne on the l0th June, are as follows:—

Will the right hon. Gentleman say whether in giving this answer he intends to further reduce the Marines?

I have stated to the hon. Gentleman that there has not been for some time any suggestion to further reduce the Marines.

Is it the intention to increase that body?

I am not quite sure, but I think there is this year a slight increase in the number. The increase is extremely small, but there is no general intention to increase the number.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether the examination of the six destroyers of the second flotilla which sustained damage during the recent manœuvres has now been completed; if so, whether he can state the result; whether the "Rifleman" and three other destroyers of the Acorn class have since proceeded to sea and been compelled to return to port owing to further starting of rivets; and, if so, whether he is in a position to give any information regarding the matter?

The examination of the "Rifleman," "Larne," "Lyra," and "Nymphe" has not yet been completed. Arrangements are being made for their docking as soon as convenient. Nothing is known of the circumstances referred to in the second part of the question.

Can the right hon. Gentleman say when he expects to be in a position to give information on this very important subject?

I think I will be able to do so very shortly. The "Rifleman," "Larne," and "Lyra" are proceeding to Portsmouth, and I think the "Nymphe" has already arrived at Devonport for docking.

asked whether the torpedo-boat destroyers "Rifleman," "Lyra," and "Nymphe," which put into Portland about a week ago in a leaky condition, have again had to return to be repaired because the concussion of their guns had started more rivets; and, if so, whether he can give any explanation of these defects?

I must refer the hon. Member to the reply which I have just given to the hon. Member for North Down in answer to a similar question. I think I should state to the House that they were out in exceptionally bad weather, but I will give a full report to the House as soon as I receive it.

What is the cause of the delay in the inspection of these vessels? Is it due to the fact that there is not sufficient docking accommodation, or what?

No, they have to go to Devonport for docking.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he is aware that the salary offered to the Director of Naval Construction, namely, £l,500 per annum, rising to a maximum of £1,800, is considerably lower than that which can be earned in the employment of a private firm by a man with the requisite professional knowledge; and whether, in view of this fact, the Admiralty will take the necessary steps so as to secure as the successor to the present director the most talented member of the profession?

The salary named by the hon. Gentleman has not been in operation for many years. I need hardly say that the Admiralty will endeavour to secure the services of the most suitable gentleman to fill the prospective vacancy referred to.

Is the salary of the Director of Naval Construction included in the Navy Estimates?

The hon. Gentleman will see from the Navy Estimates that the salary of the present Director of Naval Construction is £3,000.

Will the right hon. Gentleman, at any rate, see that the salary which has been paid for so many years is not reduced in the case of the present director's successor?

I cannot give any undertaking on that point. We shall obtain the best man we can get, and I hope he will be paid a reasonable rate.

asked whether there is a shortage of signal and wireless telegraphy ratings in the Fleet; if such shortage exists, to what is it due; and what steps have been taken, or are proposed, to remedy it?

The numbers of signal and wireless telegraphy ratings to be worked to are fixed annually on the basis of the requirements of the Fleet for war, and it is anticipated that sufficient numbers to meet these requirements will be provided by the arrangements made this year. Full numbers are now borne both in the signal and the wireless telegraphy branches, a certain proportion being under training. The latter being a new and expanding branch, it is inevitable that some time should elapse before the full proportion of the higher telegraphist ratings is reached.

asked what is the amount appropriated for the construction of submarines for the British and German Navies, respectively, in the year 1911–12; and how many vessels of this type are under construction for the German fleet.

The total amount included in the Navy Estimates for 1911–12 for the construction of British submarines is £680,973, exclusive of establishment and incidental charges. As regards Germany, we have no official information as to the number of submarines under construction. £733,855 was taken in the German Estimates for 1911–12 for the construction of submarines.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what are the Foreign treaties, if any, which do not directly concern the over-sea dominions, but which may be affected by the contemplated revision of commercial treaties in accordance with the resolution of the Imperial Conference?

There are no such treaties.

asked what are the countries with which it is proposed to open negotiations in accordance with the unanimous resolution of the Imperial Conference, with a view to securing liberty for any of the dominions which may so desire to withdraw from the operation of treaties without impairing the treaties in respect of the rest of the empire?

The countries are as follows: Argentina, Austria-Hungary, Costa Rica, Denmark, France, Italy, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Persia, Peru, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland and Venezuela.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is aware that at a public meeting held in Trafalgar Square on Sunday afternoon last, 16th July, a resolution was passed urging an immediate investigation by the British Government of the charges brought against Miss Malecka and urging that she should have a public and impartial trial or her release be immediately demanded; and if he can state what action the Government intend taking in the matter?

The reply to the first question is in the affirmative. As regards the second question, His Majesty's Ambassador at St. Petersburg has been instructed to address a note to the Russian Government claiming Miss Malecka as a British subject on the ground of a legal opinion as to her nationality, which has now been received. Sir George Buchanan is to ask once more that particulars of the charge against her may be given, that she may quickly be brought to trial and allowed counsel to defend her, and that His Majesty's Consul may be allowed to visit her freely and to attend the trial when it takes place.

Can the right hon. Gentleman indicate how soon we may have more complete and definite information as the result of these steps?

No; I cannot do that.

Is not it a fact that the British Ambassador asked for these particulars last week, and, as I understand from my right hon. Friend, no answer to that request has yet been received?

I have not heard of any answer being given to the request for particulars.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what is the revenue of the Federated Malay States, and do they make any contribution to Imperial defence?

The estimated revenue of the Federated Malay States for 1911 is roughly $27,000,000. These States, although they are not British territory, make a substantial contribution to Imperial defence by maintaining, in accordance with the Federation Treaty of 1895, a highly efficient regiment (the Malay States Guides), which is intended to reinforce the garrison of Singapore in time of war.

asked whether the Colonial Governments were consulted in the drafting of the new treaty with Japan?

The Prime Ministers of the self-governing Dominions were consulted before the Alliance was renewed, and unanimously approved of the renewal.

asked whether we have given up all our rights in New Caledonia; and, if so, when were they given up?

New Caledonia has been a French colony for over half a century. I am not aware what British rights in the islands the hon. Member refers to.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies, whether he is aware that within the last twelve months 4,000 or more coloured workmen have been imported to work in the mines in New Caledonia by a company; and whether, in view of the fact that Australia is only four and a-half days by steam, he can say whether the French Government have taken any steps to prevent these men from getting away and landing in Australia contrary to the Australian Immigration Acts?

As far as I am aware, the numbers quoted in the hon. Member's question are much exaggerated. No representations on the subject have reached me from the Commonwealth Government, and I have no reason to suppose that that Government is unable to prevent evasion of its own laws.

asked how many ex-governors of Dominions are now in receipt of pensions for their services; how many of them are known to be receiving more than one pension; and how many of them sit in the House of Lords?

As far as I am aware, the number of Colonial ex-Governors in receipt of pensions is twenty-two. Only two of these served any part of their time in a self-governing Dominion. One ex-Governor is also in receipt of an Army pension, but his pension as Governor was, in consequence, reduced by one-half the amount of his military pension. Only one ex-Governor in receipt of a pension is a member of the House of Lords.

asked how soon the Committee for inquiring into the question of night-work by young persons will be appointed?

The Committee will, I hope, be appointed in the course of a few days.

Can the right hon. Gentleman give any information as to the persons who will compose this Committee?

I would rather wait until after the appointment is made.

asked whether the Home Secretary is aware that on 27th May last a warrant was issued by the Mayor of Warwick for the apprehension of Beatrice M. A. Carter on three charges for obtaining goods by false pretences at Warwick on 14th January last, and was forwarded by the Warwick police to the chief constable of Reading with a request that he would cause the woman to be re-arrested on her discharge from Reading Prison, where she was imprisoned for a similar offence, of which she was convicted on 10th May last, the offence at Warwick for which the warrant was issued not having been mentioned or taken into consideration when sentence was passed at Reading; whether, without any notice or explanation to the Mayor of Warwick or the Warwick police, he directed that this warrant should not be executed; and will he say what particular circumstances there were in the case of Beatrice M. A. Carter which caused him, without notice to the justice who issued the warrant, the Mayor of Warwick, and without notice to the Warwick police, to interpose and prevent the execution of the warrant and due process of law; and whether he will now explain under which Statute he took the action he did in this case?

This woman had undergone a month's imprisonment for an offence committed at Reading; and, late on the last day of her sentence, I learned that a further warrant for her arrest had been issued at Warwick and would be executed by the Reading police on her release next morning. I thereupon telegraphed to the chief constable of Reading that I strongly deprecated the prisoner's re-arrest at the prison gate, and said that, if the Warwick police thought it necessary to prosecute for this further offence, they should first communicate with me. I had no time before taking this course to communicate with the Justices who issued the warrant or with the Warwick police. I have, of course, no statutory authority to "direct that a warrant should not be executed," and I did not give any such direction. I merely expressed a strong opinion that it was undesirable to execute it, and in doing so I was following the established practice of my predecessors. It has for many years past been the settled policy of the Home Office, in cases where a series of offences of a similar nature have been committed in different jurisdictions, to discourage the mechanical re-arrest of a prisoner at the prison gates to undergo one sentence after another, and circulars on the subject were issued to the police in 1896 and 1909. This policy and practice were formulated after consultation with the Lord Chief Justice and the Council of Judges, and the principles on which it is based received the approval of the Court of Criminal Appeal in the case of R. v. Syres. The present case appeared to me to be emphatically one in which re-arrest after undergoing sentence was undesirable; when the woman, whose previous character was excellent, was sentenced at Reading for a petty fraud, the court took into account the fact that it was one of a series of similar petty offences committed at other places, and the other charges were then dropped. The Warwick case was not, it is true, before the court, but it was one of the same series and as trivial as the others. Moreover, the woman was in feeble health, and the circumstances pointed strongly to her suffering from some form of mental weakness. I had not, though much pressed on the subject, felt justified in reducing the sentence passed at Reading; but I had reason to think that to re-arrest her and take her back to prison at the moment she was returning to her home would have a harmful effect on a woman in her condition; and, unless there were reasons for prosecution of which the police have given me no information, it would have been an act of useless cruelty.

Would it not have been more courteous to have communicated with the Warwickshire authorities instead of writing them a sharp reprimand?

I wrote no sharp reprimand. All I did was, when the Warwickshire Chief Constable wrote to the Home Office and asked for information on the subject to furnish him with the information, but I took exception to some discourteous expressions, as I thought them, which occurred in his letter.

Arising out of the answer as I heard it, the reply of the Home Secretary was to my mind—[HON. MEMBERS: "Order, order"]—very discourteous to the Warwickshire authorities.

I am quite prepared to lay the reply upon the Table.

asked whether the Factory Department of the Home Office have written to Messrs. Nobel, of Waltham Abbey, instructing the substitution of boy labour for female labour in the operation of ward-cutting; whether, in consequence, a number of women who have been working at this operation for years have been thrown out of employment, and boys engaged in what is for them a blind-alley occupation; and, if so, whether the Home Secretary will state under what authority this instruction has been given?

It is not the case that the Factory Department of the Home Office have instructed Messrs. Nobel to substitute boy labour for female labour in the operation of ward-cutting. There is no power to give such instructions. An inspector of the Department who recently investigated an accident at the factory expressed the opinion that the sharpening of the knives used in the process of ward-cutting while they were in motion was dangerous work for girls to perform, and suggested that either men should do the sharpening, or that the knives should be stopped while being sharpened. The firm tried the former alternative, and, finding It involved some loss of time, decided on their own initiative to do the whole work of ward-cutting with male labour.

asked whether the proposal for a single licence for all places of public entertainment which was made unanimously by Mr. Samuel's Committee is supported by theatre managers, music hall managers, associations of actors and music hall performers, besides dramatic authors; and what is the opposition to this proposal which has led him to describe it as highly controversial?

I am aware of the support which the proposal receives, but it will be equally within my hon. Friend's knowledge that the proposal was opposed before the Joint Committee of 1909, and is still opposed, by influential theatre and music hall managers, by representative associations of such managers, and by those concerned in the administration of the present law.

Is the right hon. Gentleman referring to representations which officially reached him at the Home Office, and which are directly contrary to my information?

asked the President of the Board of Education whether he can now issue new Regulations for Secondary Schools, in view of the fact that certain articles in the present Regulations are quite unacceptable to denominational schools, and that the continuance in force of these Regulations is causing injury and inconvenience to Roman Catholics and other denominations'

I cannot undertake to issue any new Regulations for Secondary Schools this year. I must not be understood to accept the whole of the assumptions upon which the question is based.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the Nationalist party are as opposed to the spirit and letter of these regulations as the Unionist party, only they are afraid to vote against them [HON. MEMBERS: "Order, order."]

Can the right hon. Gentleman give the House assurance that the matter will be debated and voted upon here before the new secondary school regulations are introduced?

I have already said that I have no intention of introducing new secondary school regulations.

asked (1) whether before settling the details of the national scheme for the establishment of farm institutes, the President of the Board of Education will consider the advisability of sending a small committee to visit and study the equipment and curriculum of the exceptionally efficient institutions of a similar character in Belgium; and whether it will be the aim of his Department or the Board of Agriculture to cultivate and manage the farms attached to these institutes, as in the case of the practical farm schools of France and Belgium, with the view of making them commercially profitable; and (2) whether the proposed grant of £325,000 from the Development Fund for the purpose of establishing farm institutes will be administered wholly by the Board of Education or partly by the Board of Agriculture; when and in what counties the first of these institutes will be established; to what extent they will be under the control or supervision of the local education authorities or their agricultural committees; and out of what fund or funds is it proposed to defray the cost of their annual maintenance?

:I think the hon. Member will find the answer to practically all of his inquiries in the Circular and Memorandum which the Board have recently issued to local education authorities a copy of which I shall be glad to give him. In considering their scheme the Board have had the benefit of the advice of Lord Reay's Committee on Agricultural Education, of the Inter-Departmental Committee of the Board of Agriculture and the Board of Education, of representative members of county education authorities, of the rural education conference, and of inspectors who are thoroughly informed as to agricultural developments and developments in agricultural education in all parts of the world. One of these expert inspectors is at the present conducting further investigations in Germany, France, and Belgium. It is intended that the farms in connection with which the farm institutes are worked should be conducted on business principles, so far as may be consistent with their primary use for educational purposes. The grants for farm institutes will be administered wholly by the Board of Education. The date of establishment of farm institutes in different areas must depend to a great extent upon the local education authorities by whom, subject to the Regulations of the Board of Education, the institutes will be controlled. Grants towards the annual maintenance of the institutes will be made out of the Development Fund and out of the funds placed at the disposal of the Board of Education for aiding technical education.

Will the balance of the cost involved both in capital expenditure and maintenance be thrown upon the rates?

I am not prepared to say exactly how it will be met, but I can give the hon. Member full information as to the amounts which we shall provide, and which will come from the Development Fund.

Is there no danger of overlapping and friction as between the two Departments as regards these matters?

No. Most complete arrangements have been made as between the two Departments to avoid overlapping.

asked whether, in view of the repeated assurances on the part of the Government that adequate grants would be made by Parliament towards the cost entailed by the medical inspection of school children under the Education (Administrative Provisions) Act, 1907, and of the fact that during the last two years the expenditure under this head has been steadily increasing and is already in many cases double the amount originally estimated, and the further fact that the object of medical inspection is of national importance, the President of the Board of Education will take steps to relieve the local education authorities of part of the increasing burden thrown upon them for this purpose?

I have constantly stated in this House and elsewhere that the provision of additional funds from Imperial sources in aid of local expenditure on medical inspection can only be dealt with in connection with the general question of the relations between Imperial and local taxation, which are being considered by a Departmental Committee.

Will the right hon. Gentleman take care that this particular matter is brought to the attention of the Departmental Committee?

Will the right hon. Gentleman give special attention to the case of those authorities who in addition to medical inspection are dealing with medical treatment and spending large sums of money out of the rates?

No doubt all those questions will be dealt with by the Committee.

asked the President of the Board of Education whether he realises the effect upon the ratepayers of the non-autonomous areas of administrative counties of the new regulations of the Board under which the Special Grant for the purposes of elementary education in the more necessitous districts is only payable to those authorities whose rates for elementary education as raised over the whole area of the authority exceed 1s. 6d, in the £, although the rate in many districts of such areas may far exceed such amount without any local maladministration or extravagance, and the fact that many prosperous county towns having separate education authorities are under such regulations enjoying a boon denied to much poorer localities; and whether he will take steps to deal with this state of affairs?

I am quite alive to the fact, to which I understand the hon. Member to refer, that owing to the incidence of special rates certain districts in the areas of administrative counties which fail to receive relief under the regulations governing the Special Grant for necessitous areas are nevertheless actually paying rates for elementary education exceeding 1s. 6d. in the £. It is difficult to see how the Board of Education could make grants for elementary education otherwise than to local education authorities.

asked the President of the Board of Education why the Board refuses to give a share in the Special Aid Grant to those local authorities in whose case the cost of elementary education has only recently risen to a greater sum than the produce of a 1s. 6d. rate, as witnessed in the case of Dudley and Wrexham, thereby penalising authorities who have exercised economy; and whether he will alter the regulations relating to this matter?

As I have explained in a previous answer given in this House, the Special Grant has always been properly regarded as a purely temporary measure of relief. Pending the Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee with re- gard to the relation of Imperial to local taxation the Government do not consider it desirable to extend the scope of the grant. With this view it has been necessary to impose what is, I admit, a purely arbitrary time limit.

Will the right hon. Gentleman undertake to reconsider it next year, otherwise these authorities are left without the Special Aid Grant, although they are expending large sums of money?

Yes. I am quite alive to the difficulties which arise under present limitations, and the matter is receiving the consideration of the Committee.

asked the President of the Local Government Board what action he proposes to take to give effect to the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Tuberculosis?

The Report of the Royal Commission which has just been issued is receiving my consideration.

asked whether the increase in the number of children exempted from vaccination through the operation of the Vaccination Acts of 1898 and 1907, and especially since the Act of 1907 came into force, has been accompanied by any noticeable increase in the number of deaths from small-pox in children under ten years of age?

There has been but little small-pox in this country since 1907, and up to the end of 1910 no noticeable increase in the deaths of children under ten from this disease. Figures for 1911 are not yet available.

asked the President of the Local Government Board if he has received any reply to the communication addressed to the Treasury some months ago with reference to the improvements in the prospects of the second division clerks in his department; and, if so, what is the nature of the reply, and, if favourable, when will the improved scheme be put into operation?

Correspondence with the Treasury is still proceeding on this subject.

asked the President of the Local Government Board if he has had any communication about a vacancy by death on the Dewsbury Board of Guardians; and, as the guardians will not take steps to fill the vacancy, will he give the necessary instructions to them?

I have received a communication on this subject. Section 66 of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, as applied to the election of guardians by the Guardians (outside London) Election Order, 1898, requires that, on a casual vacancy in the office of guardian, an election shall be held within one month after notice in writing of the vacancy has been given to the chairman or to the clerk by two guardians. The view of the Local Government Board is that a casual vacancy should be filled up as soon as practicable, and although I am not empowered to give any instructions in the matter, I have informed the guardians of the Board's view and drawn their attention to the statutory provisions applicable to the case.

asked what is the number of cases of small-pox reported in Bury, Stalybridge, Wallasey and Birmingham this year, with the vaccinal condition of the patients, also the number of deaths, and the vaccinal condition of the victims?

In Bury, thirty cases of small-pox have occurred, of which none were fatal. The age incidence of these patients cannot be given at present. Eleven of the patients are known to have been unvaccinated, and sixteen had been vaccinated in infancy. The Board have no information on the vaccinal condition of the three remaining cases. The Wallasey and Birmingham outbreaks are so recent that no precise information is as yet available. There were fourteen cases of smallpox at Stalybridge, of which none were fatal. Of these cases, six were unvaccinated, seven were vaccinated, and one was said to have had a previous attack of small-pox. All the cases under twenty-years of age were unvaccinated.

asked the President of the Local Government Board whether his attention has been drawn to the newly adopted policy of the Metropolitan Water Board of rating Nonconformist chapels for the supply of water on the basis of their sitting accommodation, viz., at the rate of one pound per annum for every 300 sittings, thus increasing the cost in many cases by 150 per cent; whether he is aware that such practice weighs heavily on those churches which possess large chapels and small congregations; and whether he proposes to take any steps, by legislation or otherwise, to secure a modification of the system adopted by the Metropolitan Water Board with a view to establishing a more equitable basis of calculation?

I am given to understand that the scale referred to was adopted by the Metropolitan Water Board in 1908, and that it applies to all places of worship. Also that where the supply is merely given to a tap wash-basin or heating apparatus half the rate only is charged. If my hon. Friend has any special case of hardship before him he will no doubt see that it is brought under the notice of the Water Board.

asked the President of the Local Government Board whether he is aware that £6,000 was offered by a person in New South Wales for the purpose of emigrating single men between twenty and forty years of age from the United Kingdom to New South Wales, where these men were required for work in the country districts at the current rate of wages, from 15s. to 20s. a week and their keep; whether he is aware that, although £6 per man has actually been paid for 198 men, only this number were assisted to emigrate by the Central (Unemployed) Body and other societies, and that in consequence nearly £5,000 has been sent back to New South Wales; and whether, in order that the Australian people may not be led to believe that they must go to the Continent of Europe in order to increase their population, he will in the future extend the powers of the Central (Unemployed) Body?

I am aware of the offer referred to. I am informed by the Central (Unemployed) Body that it was impossible to take full advantage of the offer owing to the limited time within which the prospective emigrants had to leave England. No extension of the existing powers of the Central Body in this matter appears to be required.

What length of time was there in which these men could be found?

I believe the offer was made some time in April, and it was to expire by June 30th. I regret that the offer was not for a longer period. It is no fault of the Central (Unemployed) Body that the whole of this £6,000 offered was not available.

asked the Postmaster-General what are the grounds for the refusal of the application of the rural postmen attached to Stanstead office to be placed upon the same rate of pay as those postmen of the same class who are attached to Bishop's Stortford?

Stanstead is a sub-office under Bishop's Stortford, and the scale of pay at a sub-office is usually lower than that for the relative head office. Careful consideration was given to all the circumstances before the classification of Stanstead was decided upon, and I regret that it is not possible to place that office upon the same scale as Bishop's Stortford.

asked the Postmaster-General if he has received a petition from the temporary clerks in the Postal Telegraphs Engineering Branch praying to be placed on the established Civil Service staff, as is proposed in the case of the transfer of the employés of the National Telephone Company; and, if so, whether he has yet reached a determination thereon?

I received such a petition at the end of last month. It is under consideration.

asked the hon. Member for Southampton, as representing the First Commissioner of Works, whether he will at once cause to be exhibited in the House plans showing the site proposed for the King Edward Memorial in the Green Park, and full details of the memorial itself?

asked the hon. Member for Southampton on what date he will be able to circulate the suggested plans for placing the King Edward Memorial in the Green Park, in accordance with the recent assurance that the House should be consulted upon all alterations to the Royal Parks?

Perhaps I may be allowed to answer questions Nos. 60 and 61 together; the First Commissioner of Works will be happy to have site plans prepared at once for exhibition in the tea room; and he will certainly try to arrange with the Memorial Committee that as further plans and drawings are matured they will follow for inspection.

Do I therefore understand that the site of the statue has been settled before the design has been made?

Yes.

Is it the north end of the avenue or the centre?

At the Piccadilly end.

Does the Government withdraw from the assurance it gave the House that they should be consulted with regard to any alteration in the Royal Parks?

That question had better be addressed to the Prime Minister.

Will a map be placed in the House immediately showing the exact site and dimensions of the site?

A map will be placed immediately showing the site, but the dimensions of the site are not yet settled.

asked (1) whether the King Edward Memorial Committee has selected a site for the King Edward Memorial; and (2) whether it has recently been suggested by the King Edward Memorial Committee that the King Edward Memorial should be placed in one of the national parks; and, if so, whether the House will have an opportunity of discussing this suggestion?

asked whether any decision has been arrived at in the matter of a site for the King Edward Memorial?

The General Committee appointed to carry out the memorial to King Edward VII. has decided to erect it at the Piccadilly end of the Broad Walk in the Green Park. If a general desire for discussion is manifest in the House, no doubt due arrangements may be made.

asked the Prime Minister whether the Government has assented to a proposal of the King Edward Memorial Committee to erect a memorial in the Green Park?

The Government will raise no objection to the site which is now proposed.

asked the Prime Minister if he will have the House furnished with a descriptive schedule of all documents prepared by Government Departments and submitted to the Committee investigating Ireland's financial relations?

No, Sir. The Committee are pursuing their investigations for the information of the Cabinet, and I do not think any object would be gained by publishing a list of the documents which they may have found it necessary to discuss.

asked the Chief Secretary whether he had yet succeeded in obtaining from any Irish representative person or body an expression of approval of the Committee investigating Ireland's financial relations for the benefit of the Cabinet; and, if so, would he name the-person or body?

My right hon. Friend has never asked or sought anybody's approval of the Committee to which the hon. Member refers.

Has he. as a matter of fact, received any approval?

The answer is simply that it was never asked.

asked the Prime Minister if his attention has been called to the fact that at Blackburn, which has a population of 133,000, land adjoining the cemetery was recently sold by public auction at the rate of £56 an acre, and at Malton, which has a population of about 5,000, the burial board has had to pay at the rate of £234 an acre for land for extension of the cemetery; and will he introduce legislation to make the valuation of land under the Finance Act the basis of the price to be paid for land required for public purposes?

My attention has been called to cases of the kind to which the hon. Member refers, but I am afraid that I cannot, at the moment, give any promise of legislation.

asked the Prime Minister whether, in any prospective creation of Peers, he will consider the suggestion of recommending for that honour some representative working men and trade unionist officials?

This appears to be a purely hypothetical question.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that even trade union officials have some regard for the company they desire to keep out of?

asked whether it is the intention of His Majesty's Government to introduce this Session any legislation founded on the Report of the Royal Commission on the Selection of Justices of the Peace, and presented to this House in July of last year?

No, Sir. No legislation is required to carry the recommendations of the Royal Commission into effect.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether, in view of the fact that the seamen of the mercantile marine had been granted considerable concessions in the shape of increased pay, he could say whether the officers were going to receive an increase of salary in proportion to the increased wages of the men; and, if not, would they get any increase at all?

So far as my information goes the terms of settlement with the seamen at various ports do not appear to include officers, and I am unable to say whether any changes in the direction indicated by the hon. Member are contemplated.

Is the right hon. Gentlemen aware that there is great discontent, and that some of the cooks are getting more than the navigation officers?

I am watching the matter.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he could state the number of Chinese sailors who were engaged on British ships during the late strike?

I am unable to give the information desired.

Is there no way of getting the information?

As far as the strike is concerned, it is over in some cases. I do not think it is possible for me to get the figures for a particular period. I have no reason to believe that a larger number of Chinese were engaged during the period referred to by the hon. Member than at ordinary times.

asked how many baskets of foreign shrimps were landed in Billingsgate during the last three months; and how many bags of Dutch mussels were landed at Hull during the months of November, December, and January last?

The total weight of fresh shellfish of all kinds other than oysters consigned from the Netherlands, which were imported into London (exclusive of Queenborough) during the last three months has been 3,881 cwts., and of similar descriptions imported into Hull during November, December, and January last 29,239 cwts. I am unable, however, to indicate how much of these imports consisted of shrimps and mussels respectively, no separate particulars being available with regard to the imports of individual varieties of shellfish.

asked how many magistrates had been appointed since January, 1906, to the borough bench at Blackburn, and what were the politics of the persons appointed, so far as was known, and how many Labour representatives were included in the number; and also what was the present number of Liberal, Conservative, and Labour magistrates on the roll for the borough?

Twenty-one magistrates have been appointed to the Blackburn Borough Bench since January, 1908. Eight of them are Liberals, one Conservative, and three representatives of Labour. I have no information as to the individual politics of nine others who were appointed in 1906. As regards the Bench as a whole, I am given to understand that its present complexion, so far as is known, is twenty-six Liberals, thirty-two Conservatives, six Labour representatives, and one Nationalist.

Does the right hon. Gentleman consider that six labour representatives out of a bench of over sixty is a fair proportion considering that a majority of the electors voted for a Labour candidate at the last election?

Where the bench is overmanned, as I believe it is in the case of Blackburn, I do not think it is advisable to appoint a large number of individuals to the bench in order to equalise certain interests.

Does the right hon. Gentle-man consider the politics of these gentlemen before their judicial fitness for the position?

We take into consideration every circumstance connected with their qualifications for the position.

Is it not a fact that the right hon. Gentleman last year appointed nineteen magistrates, all Liberals, and not one Labour representative?

I must ask for notice of that question.

Will the right hon. Gentleman consider whether any of these magistrates who do not attend to their duties might be removed to make room for better men?

asked if advisory committees on the appointment of magistrates had been appointed for the county; if so, were any trade union, labour, or other working-class bodies consulted as to the constitution of such committees; how many working men had been appointed on such committees, and, if any, in what districts; and what were the politics, so far as was known, of all the members appointed?

One advisory committee has been appointed for the County Palatine Bench. In appointing this committee I relied on the advice of individuals, and did not consult any working-class group or corporate bodies. The Lord Lieutenant who presides is a Liberal; two of his colleagues are Liberals and two Conserva- tives. Although they are all doing or have done a good deal of work for the county, I believe the hon. Member would not describe them as working men.

There are no working men on the Advisory Committee?

No.

asked if an Advisory Committee on the appointment of magistrates had been appointed for the Blackburn district; if so, who were the persons appointed and what were their politics; and was any Labour organisation consulted as to the nomination of a working-man member of the committee?

Blackburn has been grouped with Darwen, Clitheroe, and Accrington, and an Advisory Committee of five members appointed for the group. The names of the members are Messrs. H. Harrison, W. Haworth, R. Trappes-Lomax, T, Garnett, and J. Tomlinson; of these I am informed that two are Liberals, two Conservatives, and one of more or less independent views. No Labour organisation was consulted as to the nomination of a working-man member of the committee. If experience shows a good object would be served by any or all of these boroughs having each its own committee, I shall be prepared to revise the present arrangement. May I add that in appointing these committees I have tried to follow the recommendations in the Report of the Royal Commission on the Selection of Justices of the Peace, and that in appointing new magistrates, I regard as important the recommendation to the effect that persons of every social grade should be appointed justices of the peace, and that working men with a first-hand knowledge of the conditions of life among their own class should be appointed to the county as well as to the borough benches. No appointments have been made to the Blackburn bench since the institution of the committee system, as I have no reason to suppose that the bench is undermanned. I have not, so far, consulted on any subject the committee for the group which includes Blackburn.

Is it not a fact that the gentleman of "more or less independent views" is a well-known Tory? Further, how does it happen that in the neighbouring borough of Bolton the Advisory Committee consists of Liberal, Tory, and Labour representatives, while the only re- presentative of Blackburn on the local Advisory Committee is a very prominent Tory?

There are Liberals also on the same Advisory Committee. I would remind the hon. Member that appointments to the bench are not made by the Advisory Committees. They are for consultative purposes, not to appoint magistrates.

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether the Irish Board of National Education recognised increase as promptly as they did decrease in the attendance of pupils; if so, would he explain why they had refused a separate building Grant for a boys' school which had increased from 18 to 40, stopped the teacher's salary, and required the school to be amalgamated with a girls' school; and whether the Board were now in a position to recognise and treat such a boys' school as separate?

If the hon. Member will furnish me with particulars of the school referred to I will have inquiry made into the matter.

asked the Chief Secretary whether his attention had been called to the loss and inconvenience caused by the continued application of the term demesne to tracts of land in Ireland upon which no mansion-house had stood for more than fifty years, and which were thus withheld from use for labourers, railways, and other public purposes; and whether he would have the official and inspectors instructed to report in future all those pseudo-demesnes, with a view to scheduling them, depriving them of a character to which they are not entitled, and making them available for beneficial purposes to the same extent as other land of the class to which they really belonged?

Where a vendor claims that lands proposed to be acquired by the Estates Commissioners or the Congested Districts Board cannot be so acquired on the ground that they are demesne lands, the matter is determined in accordance with the provisions of the Land Purchase Acts. Inspectors employed on the inspection of estates, the subject of proceedings under these Acts, cannot be withdrawn from such work to make any such general inquiry as that suggested in the concluding portion of the question.

asked the Chief Secretary if he would state the number of estates now in the Land Judge's Court for sale, and the number of tenants on estates in that court imprisoned by order of Mr. Justice Ross; whether he was aware that the rents of those estates were not spent on them or in Ireland, but went to money-lending mortgagees, and that all the tenants desired to purchase their holdings at the value in the manner provided by Parliament; and, with property for sale, willing buyers, a Department to ascertain the value, and compulsory powers conferred by Parliament, whether he would have the land question settled on those estates by application of those powers?

There are no persons at present in prison under the order of the Land Judge. I am not in a position to state the number of estates pending for sale in the Land Judge's Court, and to make the necessary investigation would involve serious delay in transacting the business of the court. The Estates Commissioners have purchased estates in this court to the value of a million and a-half.

asked the Chief Secretary whether the jurisdiction of the Irish Land Judge over estates in his court for sale was limited to sale and temporary management pending the sale; and seeing that some of the estates that had been in that court for sale during the last thirty years still remained unsold, to the detriment of the country, if he would say why the compulsory powers of sale provided by Parliament were not applied to those estates?

Speaking generally, the jurisdiction of the Land Judge has reference to the sale of estates in his court, and pending sale to the management under the court. No avoidable delay has been permitted by the court in bringing estates to sale, but there are some cases in which, owing to complexity of title and other difficulties, considerable but unavoidable delay has taken place.

Does not the right hon. Gentleman consider thirty years too long to spend in the attempt to sell an estate?

I think it is admitted that it is a long time.

asked the Chief Secretary in how many cases in Ireland since 1st January, 1906, had the procedure under the statute of Edward III. been resorted to, whereby a person acting on a public principle in an agrarian matter was brought, as a person of ill-fame, before a paid magistrate, who allowed no unpaid magistrate to adjudicate, and, without allowing the accused to produce a witness, ordered him to give security for good behaviour or go to prison; and whether he was aware that the statute mentioned was never resorted to in Great Britain in matters involving the assertion of a public principle?

I am unable to state the number of cases brought under the statute in question during the last five and a-half years. The labour involved in the collection of the information would be out of all proportion to its value. Upon application to bind to the peace or to be of good behaviour the person against whom the application is made is not entitled to be examined or to call witnesses in his own behalf. I am not aware of the practice as regards the statute in Great Britain.

asked the Chief Secretary whether the so-called Irish Provident Assurance Company was required to make a deposit of £20,000 before commencing operations and to maintain that deposit to the present time; whether that money or any portion of it was now available to indemnify the company's victims; how many such victims there were; and what percentage of the money entrusted to the company had been spent in salaries and expenses?

I am asked by my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland to answer the hon. Member's question. The Irish Provident Assurance Company, Limited, was registered in the year 1900 with a memorandum of association by which the power to do life assurance business was expressly excluded. The company was not liable under the then existing law to make a deposit, and accordingly was not required to make a deposit of £20,000 before commencing operations. As I informed the hon. Member on the 11th instant, the winding-up of the company is entirely under the control of the Irish courts of law, and there are no official facts or figures relating to the company in the possession of the Chief Secretary or of the Board of Trade.

How is it that an insurance company in England is required to lodge £20,000, while one in Ireland is not?

If the hon. Member desires further particulars, perhaps he will give me notice.

asked the Chief Secretary if his attention had been called to the final report of the Royal Commission on Tuberculosis, and if he intended to take any action in Ireland to give effect to the recommendations, of the Commission?