asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if the National Insurance Bill repeals the Shop Clubs Act, 1902?

The reply is in the negative.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the gentleman who has recently been appointed Accountant-General only entered the service in November, 1900, and whether during most of his service he has been employed as private secretary to Sir Robert Chalmers and other head officials; and whether he will explain why this official has gone over the head of the Deputy-Accountant-General, who has had thirty-nine years experience in the Department, and who has been acting as Accountant-General for about twelve months; and whether he is aware that the next senior official who has been passed over has had thirty-four years' service; and, if so, will he say why an official who has had no experience in the Department of which he has now become chief has been appointed, to the detriment of more experienced officials?

The present Accountant and Comptroller-General of Inland Revenue, who entered that Department on 15th October, 1900, and has had the advantage of being Private Secretary to successive Chairmen of the Board for five years, was selected for his present post solely on grounds of merit, after the claims of existing officers in the Department had received the fullest consideration.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether it is the intention of the Government this year to increase the pension to Irish national school teachers; and, if so, from what date will it take effect?

I will refer the hon. Member to the reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Elgin Burghs on the 3rd instant.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether it is to be understood that the letter of the manager of the national school at Parteen protesting against the application of Rule 127 (b) to that school was read and considered at a meeting of the Commissioners of National Education; whether it was admitted in the special report made on the case by the inspector that the facts were accurately stated by the manager; and whether the Commissioners then decided that a school in which there was but one mistress for pupils of all grades, with no equipment, nor even seats for infants, was one in which there was sufficient accommodation of a satisfactory kind for infant boys, and the teaching of infants was efficient; if so, will he give the date of that meeting of the Commissioners, and state the exact terms of any minute which records their ruling on this case?

The inspector does not appear to have disputed the accuracy of the manager's statement, but ho expressed the opinion that the Parteen girls' school fulfilled all the conditions laid down in the Commissioners' Rules for a suitable school within the meaning of Rule 127 (b)— a suitable school being defined in a note to the rule' as one in which there is adequate accommodation of a satisfactory kind, in which the teaching of infants is efficient, and in which the teaching staff is of the same religious denomination as in the neighbouring boys' school. The Commissioners inform me that the case was dealt with officially in accordance with their published rules, and that the manager was advised, under their authority, in the sense of the inspector's report.

asked whether the attention of the Congested Districts Board has been called to the want of pier accommodation in Schull harbour; and, if so, with what result?

Representations have been received by the Congested Districts Board as to the necessity for improving the pier accommodation at Schull. The matter was referred by the Board to their inspector whose report has just been received, and will be considered by them at their next meeting.

asked whether the Congested Districts Board are aware of the necessity for a fishery pier at Gerhies, Bantry; whether they have promised a grant towards the erection of it; and when that promise will be realised?

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given to his question on this subject on the 14th February last. The Congested Districts Board did not make any promise of a grant towards the erection of the pier.

asked the Chief Secretary whether he will explain the drop in the numbers of candidates for the King's Scholarship examination who were placed in the first division as compared with the numbers in previous years; is he aware that candidates for training who passed in the first division last year have this year been placed in the second and third divisions; and will he say why students are not permitted to know the marks they have obtained nor any information beyond the fact that they have been placed in the first, second, or third division, and are in consequence working at a disadvantage in their preparation for a succeeding examination; whether his attention has been called to the hardship inflicted by the rule prohibiting condidates from competing for training oftener than twice; and will he say to what extent the Commissioners of National Education are prepared to enforce the rule under which the Commissioners reserve to themselves the power to require a certain number of places in a training college to be set apart for untrained teachers employed in national schools?

The Commissioners of National Education inform me that the reduction in the proportion of passes in the First Division at the King's Scholarship examination of 1911, as compared with previous years, is due to the fact that the qualifying percentages of marks for the first and second divisions have been raised. No comparison of the results of the examination in the case of individual candidates from year to year is made. The Commissioners do not consider the notification of the marks obtained by candidates at the annual examinations desirable in the interests of the candidates or of the colleges concerned. There has been no case of hardship inflicted under the rule referred to, as no candidate has yet been excluded from examination under its provisions. With regard to the last paragraph of the question the Commissioners have formulated for the guidance of the college authorities regulations on this point, and a proportion of the vacancies in each college is reserved for untrained teachers employed in national schools.

asked the Chief Secretary if he will state what is the cause of the delay in the payment of the amount mentioned in the arbitrator's award as compensation to John Sullivan, Meenagloherane, Millstreet rural district, for a plot of land acquired under the Labourers Acts?

The Land Commission have written to the clerk and to the solicitor to the Millstreet District Council pressing for the lodgment without further delay of the compensation payable in respect of a labourer's plot acquired by the council on the lands of Meenagloherane, estate of Irish Land Commission (formerly that of G. C. Clery), allotted as a parcel to John O'Sullivan. The council asked permission to pay the compensation awarded direct to O'Sullivan, but were informed by the Estates Commissioners that they could not see their way to consent to this, and the Commissioners pointed out that O'Sullivan would get the benefit of the entire compensation when received by the Land Commission in a corresponding reduction of the purchase-money to be paid by him.

asked the Chief Secretary whether, if the Estates Commissioners be satisfied that James Lenihan, the present occupant of the farm at Ballygoughlin, Glin, county Limerick, from which James Sheehy, of Buncurrig, Ballyheigue, county Kerry, was evicted, is willing to give up possession of same, he will direct that they reconsider the case with the view to having Sheehy re-instated?

I would refer the hon. Member to my reply to his question on this subject on the 7th July, to which I have-nothing to add.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he can now state what action he proposes taking to secure the enforcement of the Fair-Wages Clause at Dowlais, where the moulders make the moulds for the ingots from which the plates for battleships are rolled, and also the various parts of the machinery employed in the rolling process, and where the pattern-makers make the patterns for the moulders, and are thus in tooth cases directly employed in connection with the contracts now being executed by Messrs. Quest, Keen, and Nettlefold on behalf of the Admiralty?

In reply to the hon. Member's question of the 12th July, I expressed my willingness to refer this point to the Fair-Wages Advisory Committee for an opinion, and I am in communication with the India Office on the subject.

asked the Undersecretary of State for War if he is aware that the London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway Company refuse to carry Territorial units on Saturdays in July or August, and that other railway companies also raise difficulties in the matter, and that this compels the concentrating and dispersing of Territorial units for annual training on Sundays, which is prejudicial to recruiting; and whether the Army Council will bring pressure to bear on the railway companies to obviate the necessity for it?

The particular case to which the hon. and gallant Member refers is under the consideration of the Army Council.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether his attention has been drawn to the report of the Melbourne Chamber of Commerce in reply to the letter of the Textile Trade section of the London Chamber of Commerce in regard to the feather trade; whether the report of the Melbourne Chamber of Commerce pointing out that the wild birds of the Commonwealth ought to be preserved in order to keep in check myriads of noxious insects, of which the birds are the natural enemies, is endorsed by other Colonies and British Dependencies; and, if so, whether he will undertake, as speedily as possible, to introduce into Parliament a Bill prohibiting the smuggling of plumage of wild birds into Great Britain, when the exportation of such feathers from our Colonies and Dependencies is contrary to the laws of these countries?

I have not seen the report to which my hon. Friend refers, but it is of course recognised by all Governments that birds which destroy noxious insects should be protected. As I informed my hon. Friend on the 4th July, the question whether any and, if so, what action should be taken for the restriction of the trade in plumage is under consideration.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies, if in Jamaica it has been declared by the Chief Justice that permanent residence in a particular parish is a necessary condition to membership of the Jamaica Legislature, or alternatively the receipt of an annual income of £150 from land; if so, whether the power to so decide is contained in an Order in; Council, and, if so, of what date; and whether he will consider the advisability of abolishing such a restriction as to. residence in a particular parish?

Section 10 of the Order in Council of the 3rd October, 1895, provides that "no person shall be capable of being elected a member of the Legislative Council of Jamaica for any electoral district; or, having been elected, shall sit or vote in the Council unless he either has resided in that electoral district for twelve months immediately preceding the day of election, or possesses a clear annual income of £150 arising from lands in that district belonging to him in his own right or the right of his wife." I see no reason for a change in the provisions of the Order in Council, nor have I any ground for believing that it is desired.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that a youth named Ernest Williams, resident in Sal ford, was convicted of throwing a stone at, a policeman in connection with the recent strike, and was punished in the Salford police court with six weeks hard labour; whether he is aware that the boy comes of respectable parents, and has hitherto borne a good character; and whether, in view of all the circumstances of the case, and of the fact that this is his first offence, he can see his way to recommending a mitigation of the sentence?

I have made inquiry in the case, and regret that I have found no sufficient ground for recommending any reduction of the sentence on this prisoner, who took an active part in an attack with stones on the police.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether any memorandum had been issued setting out the provisions of the existing Copyright Acts and showing how far the Copyright Bill consolidates and how far it alters the law; and, if not, whether he will cause such a memorandum to be prepared and will postpone the Report stage of the Copyright Bill until there has been an opportunity of considering that memorandum and of ascertaining accurately what changes are proposed to be made by the Bill?

Some memoranda, of which I am sending my hon. Friend copies, were circulated to the members of the Grand Committee when the Bill was in Committee. I am unaware of any precedent for circulating a memorandum such as is suggested on the Report stage of a Bill.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether his attention has been drawn to the recent case of one Joseph Dixon, tried before the stipendiary magistrate at Leeds on 20th July on a charge, under Section 111, Sub-section (4), of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, for the alleged offence of illegally supplying seamen to ships while not being licensed or otherwise qualified so to do, and to the fact that the accused was acquitted upon the ground that he was ignorant of the particular ships on which the seamen supplied by him were to sail, and upon the ground that he was employed to engage seamen by a duly licensed person; and whether, if Section 111 does not prohibit the engagement by any unlicensed person of men to serve at sea unless the specific ship upon which they are to serve is known to the person engaging them, he will be prepared to introduce an amending Bill with this object?

From the information in my possession it appears that the magistrate found that the supply in this case was by Mr. Irvin, a duly licensed person, and not by Mr. Dixon.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture whether any steps are being taken, by the Board to investigate practical points in connection with fruit-growing such as were suggested years ago by the Select Committee on the fruit industry, and which every fruit-growing association, in the country desires to have further inquiry into; whether any application has been received by the Board for a grant to promote research in fruit-growing through the Development Commissioners; and, if so, why such application has not been sent forward to the Development Commissioners?

Yes, Sir; the Board have from time to time instituted either directly or through the agency of the agricultural colleges, investigations of the character to which the hon. Member refers, and' the Board hope to do still further work in the same direction in the future. A number of applications for Grants from the Development Fund for research work in fruit-growing have been received. Some have already been granted or refused by the Commissioners, and in other cases the question of making grants is standing over pending the settlement of the general scheme.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture whether he can state the progress made with the Norfolk and Suffolk Fisheries Provisional Order; and whether there is any likelihood of its introduction this Session?

The draft of this Order has been prepared and notices to that effect will be given in the local newspapers at the end of this or next week. The answer to the latter part of the question is in the negattive.

asked the right hon. Gentleman the Member for the Epping Division, as Chairman of the Kitchen Committee, what are the rates of pay and hours worked by the waiters and waitresses in his Department; are any retaining fees paid for the periods when the House is not sitting; and are any men or women taken on for a period less than one day, and are any employed for periods of only two hours?

The rates of pay of waiters in the House of Commons vary from £l 2s. to 18s. per week, with food and refreshments. The hours are from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., but half of the staff goes off duty at 9.30 on alternate nights, i.e., those on duty on Mondays and Wednesdays are not on duty on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Friday the House rises at 5 o'clock, and the staff are finished at 6 p.m. On Saturday the staff are engaged cleaning plate, etc., and finish at 1 p.m., when they are paid; they are not required again till Monday at 9 o'clock. Should the House sit till 1.30 a half-day's wages are paid, and after 3.30 one day's pay. Extra waiters are engaged from 6 p.m. till 9.30 p.m., and are paid 3s. 6d., with refreshments. Waitresses are engaged from 3 p.m. till 6 p.m., and are paid 2s., with refreshments. The manager, assistant manager, head waiter and smoking-room waiter (Collins) are paid a yearly salary. Those retained at sums which vary are:—The chef, head cashier, terrace smoking waiter, kitchen clerk, cellar clerk, lobby barman, chief barmaid, and carver.