asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if the older members of small dividing societies which cannot be recognised as approved societies because of the deficiency of numbers will have no option but to become Post Office contributors?

A member of a dividing society which has not the necessary numbers to qualify as an approved society and which neither obtains enough additional members nor decides to federate with other societies for the purpose of the National Health Insurance, will have the same opportunities of joining an approved society as any one who is not at present a member of any society at all. An approved society cannot exclude an insured person from membership on the ground of age, and the system of reverse-values is so framed that a society will have the same inducement to admit the old as the young to membership.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether his attention has been directed to the position of Irish national school teachers who have received promotion without any financial advantage owing to the limitation by the Treasury of the number of teachers receiving first grade salary; whether he is aware that in the latter part of 1908 the Commissioners of National Education reluctantly issued a circular informing teachers and managers that, owing to the limitation of standard numbers in the first grade, it would be impossible to pay all teachers promoted to either section of that grade the increase in salary to which their promotion entitled them, and that the service given during the period of paper promo-lion would not count in awarding future increments; and whether, having regard to the fact that this regulation is in violation of rules sanctioned by the Treasury, notably Rule 105a, which provides that teachers promoted from a lower to a higher grade receive on promotion the salary fixed for the grade to which they are promoted, immediate attention will be directed to the request of the teachers to the Irish Government and the Treasury to allow the Commissioners to pay to fifty teachers the increments and arrears earned by their promotion to a higher grade in accordance with Rule 105a of the Commissioners of National Education, which have been withheld from them in contravention of the rules of the Commissioners?

My attention has been frequently directed to this point. The Commissioners of National Education issued a circular in June, 1908, calling attention to the terms of Rule 102 (c). which provides that the number of teachers recognised in each grade is to be fixed from time to time by the Commissioners, and pointing out that the fulfilment of the prescribed conditions does not entitle a teacher to promotion unless there is a vacancy. So long as any limit is placed on the numbers in the several grades some teachers fully qualified for promotion may have to wait before they receive an increase of salary; while the removal of such limitations would not only entail an increased charge on the Votes, but might have a serious effect on the Teachers' Pension Fund. I cannot admit that the Commissioners' Rule 105 (a) has been violated; it must be read with Rule 102 (c). There should not, however, be any possibility of misunderstanding on the part of the teachers with regard to their prospects; and I am giving the whole subject my most careful considera- tion, with a view, if possible, to having it placed on a clear and satisfactory basis.

asked why the application of Miss Barbara M'Andrew to be reinstated in the holding formerly occupied by her father at Crannagh, Knockanillaun, county Mayo, on the estate of Mrs. Perry, has been refused by the Estates Commissioners?

The Estates Commissioners inquired into the application of Barbara M'Andrew for reinstatement in a holding formerly occupied by her father. The holding is in the possession of another tenant, and the Commissioners decided to take no action in the matter.

asked the Chief Secretary why the Estates Commissioners have declined to consider the application of Michael Harte, Cloonturk, Ballina, to be restored to the holding from which his father was evicted on the estate of Lord Arran or to another holding in lieu thereof; is he aware that the present tenant of Harte's former holding is willing to exchange to another of similar value, so that Harte may return to his former home; and if he will instruct the Estates Commissioners to reconsider their refusal in this case, as Harte is known to be a deserving man?

The Estates Commissioners have considered Michael Harte's application for reinstatement in a holding on the Arran estate at one time occupied by his father and now in the occupation of another tenant. The Commissioners decided not to interfere in the matter of Harte's application, which was not lodged within the time prescribed by the Evicted Tenants Act.

also asked what pro-progress has been made by the Congested Districts Board in the purchase of the Nicholson estate, Attymass, county Mayo; if he is aware that several attempts have been made by the tenants to induce the landowner to sell under the Act of 1909; that, following these offers from the tenants, the estate bailiff has visited them with threats of forcing payment of arrears; and that the holdings on this estate are of the poorest and most congested character, the rent for which is invariably earned in the English harvest fields?

The Congested Districts Board, having been informed that the owner was willing to negotiate for the sale of his estate through them, applied to the owner for the maps and other documents necessary for an inspection of the lands, but so far the documents have not been lodged. As regards the remainder of the question, the Board have no information except that contained in statements forwarded to them by or on behalf of the tenants.

asked whether an application of Mr. Edward H. Power for the sale of his estate at Kilmacleague, county Waterford, has been lodged in or since 1908 with the Estates Commissioners; whether such application shows that no agreement for the sale of his holding to a tenant named Mr. John Ryan, of Kilmacleague, has been entered; whether he is aware that the owner has recently instituted ejectment proceedings against Mr. Ryan; and whether, when the Estates Commissioners are having the estate inspected, they will direct their inspector to report as to whether this holding ought to sold by the vendor to Mr. Ryan, and, in case the same is then in the vendor's possession, to report whether the Estates Commissioners ought to take steps for its compulsory acquisition.

The Estates Commissioners inform me that this estate is being sold direct to the tenants by the owner under the Irish Land Act, 1903. John Ryan's name does not appear in the list of tenants on the estate pending for sale, and no agreement for the purchase of a holding by a tenant of that name has been lodged with the Commissioners. When the Commissioners are dealing with the estate in order of priority the case of any tenant who has not signed a purchase agreement will be inquired into. The Commissioners have no knowledge of the ejectment proceedings referred to.

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, in view of the offer of Mr. Charles M. O'Conor to sell his estate at Ballyroddy, near Elphin, county Roscommon, and the growing unrest in the neighbourhood owing to the need of relieving congestion there, if he can now say when the purchase will be completed and the land distributed?

The Congested Districts Board are informed by Mr. Charles O'Conor's solicitors that the maps and other documents in connection with his estate at Ballyroddy will be lodged with the Board shortly. When received the Board will have the property inspected, as soon as practicable, with a view to deciding whether they will make an offer for it.

also asked how many local applicants of the classes intended by Parliament to receive untenanted land have applied for portions at Caldramoran, near Elphin, county Roscommon for how many of these is the land insufficient to provide portions; whether a portion is to be given to a man named M'Dermott, as an evicted tenant, whose father's farm at Gurteen, county Sligo, has been taken over by a shopkeeper named Michael Coffey for non-payment of a shop debt; and who, if anyone, has certified that M'Dermott is an evicted tenant in the ordinary sense?

The Congested Districts Board inform me that very few of the local applicants who applied for portions of the lands of Caldramoran on the C. M. O'Conor Estate, county Roscommon, are persons to whom the Board could give land. The applications of suitable persons willing to migrate to these lands who are in a position to surrender land for the enlargement of congested holdings will be fully considered. At the request of the Estates Commissioners the Board agreed to provide a holding for Mr. P. J. M'Dermott or his representative who was evicted from a holding on the De Freyne estate, Gurteen, county Sligo. The holding from which M'Dermott was evicted was occupied by a man named Coffey under a judicial tenancy when the Board purchased the estate. The Board subsequently purchased Coffey's interest in the land and allotted it in parcels for the enlargement of adjacent small holdings. M'Dermott has been selected by the Estates Commissioners as an evicted tenant suitable for a holding under the Evicted Tenants Act.

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that an application for a grant to build a teacher's residence has been made by Mr. Brady, Farrancaragh school, Caherdaniel, county Kerry, but that the grant proposed by the National Board is so low that no builder will take the contract; and whether, in view of the fact that this teacher can only procure lodg- ings at a distance of more than two-and-a-half miles from his school, steps will be taken to increase the grant?

No application for a grant to build a teacher's residence in connection with this school has been made to the Commissioners of National Education. An application was made by the manager of the school for a loan of £250—the maximum amount which the Board of Works have power to lend for this purpose—and this was sanctioned on the 31st January, 1910. At the request of the manager the plans were re-modelled in May last, and since then no communication has been received from him.

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland can he state on what grounds the claim to an old ago pension by Timothy Shea, High Street, Caherciveen, has been refused; and whether, in view of the evidence submitted in proof of his claim, the case will now be reconsidered?

The only evidence submitted by Shea in support of his claim was a certificate of his marriage in June, 1866. He could not, however, be traced in the 1841 Census Return, and his age was recorded in the 1851 Return as nine years. The Local Government Board accordingly disallowed his claim on the ground that he did not fulfil the statutory condition as to age. It is not open to the Board to reconsider their decisions.

asked the Undersecretary of State for War if he will state the number of horses bought in Scotland each year during the last five years for Army purposes, with details as to which branch of the service was supplied?

The figures are as follows:—