asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his attention has been called to the custom in the gun trade for a skilled artisan to rent a shop or part of a shop in a factory, to engage, dismiss, and pay his own labour, while to all intents and purposes he is a tenant, and to the fact that in some cases he does in the shop work for other manufacturers besides the one who owns the factory; and will he say whether this man, under the National Insurance Bill, will be an employé or an employer, and will he have to pay the employers' contributions for the men he directly employs; will he also give the same information as to men in the same trade commonly called outworkers, who have their own little workshop in respect of which they are responsible for compliance with the Factory and Workshop Acts, and who do work for a number of employers and engage, dismiss, and pay their own labour; and similar information as to outworkers in the same trade who work for only one firm?

I fear it is quite impossible to say how the First Clause and the Third Schedule to the Bill will be interpreted in every variety of particular case. The case of a person working under the general control and management of some person other than his immediate employer is dealt with in paragraph 5 of the Third Schedule.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many deputations he has received on the subject of the National Insurance Bill; and whether he has received or intends to receive a deputation from the National Union of Women Workers?

The answer to the second part of the question is in the affirmative. The answer to the first would transcend all human powers of calculation.

asked the Chancellor whether he is aware that local pension officers, in estimating the income of aged miners for pension purposes, are in the habit of including voluntary gifts of 2s. per week made by certain lodges of the Durham Miners' Union to aged miners in their district; whether he is aware that those gifts are purely voluntary, are intended solely to enable the aged miners to procure some little additional comforts, and may be discontinued at any time without notice; and whether, under these circumstances, he will direct the pension officers not to take these allowances into consideration in estimating the income of applicants for old age pensions?

The fact that the gifts in question are voluntary and liable to discontinuance does not prevent them from being means within the meaning of the Old Age Pensions Act; and they are rightly taken into account in calculating the yearly means of claimants for old age pensions. I am not prepared to give directions in the sense suggested by the hon. Member.

asked the Attorney-General for Ireland why the trial of the prisoners Donnellan and O'Sullivan was adjourned from the last Clare assizes to the next assizes in December, thereby involving the imprisonment of the men for nine months before trial; and whether, under these circumstances, he will recommend that if substantial bail is tendered it will be accepted?

The case referred to by the hon. Gentleman involves a grave charge of firing at a man named Hynes with intent to murder him, and of wounding him. The recent assizes in county Clare was the first occasion on which the men could have been tried, but an adjournment of the trial had to be applied for to the court, and was obtained, on affidavit, showing a fair and impartial trial could not be had at the assizes. The delay involved is to be regretted, but it is unavoidable, having regard to the arrangements made for the sittings of the courts. It would not be possible to assent to bail.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland why the Department of Agriculture have required the Ballina Urban District Council, as the local market authority, to provide a new weighbridge with suitable cage for the weighing of live stock, and why the suggestion of the council to have a suitable cage fitted to their existing weighbridge is not acceptable to the Department; is he aware that in the adjoining town of Ardnaree, where the market tolls are the property of a local landlord, no such provision is demanded; and will he explain why the Department have different requirements for the two classes of market authority?

Having regard to the importance of the fairs held at Ballina, the Department of Agriculture consider that adequate accommodation for weighing cattle should be provided. There are at present two weighing machines in the town, but one is of an obsolete type and quite unsuitable. The other machine is too small to permit of a cage of suitable size being placed upon it. The proposal of the urban district council to have a cage fitted to one of the existing machines could not therefore be agreed to. The hon. Member appears to be under a misapprehension as regards Ardnaree. The Department have asked that suitable weighing accommodation be provided there also.

asked whether the cases of the following evicted tenants on the Foley estate, Tralee, have been inquired into; and, if so, with what result: Edmund Feries, Clahane, Tralee; Denis Cahill, Clahane, Tralee; Thomas Costelloe, Clahane, Tralee; Jeremiah Sheehan, Clahane, Tralee; and James Gorman, Clahane, Tralee?

I would refer the hon. Member to my reply to his question on this subject on 25th July to which I have nothing to add.

asked the Prime Minister whether he is aware of the dissatisfaction that exists at the London Law Courts on the method of making the minor appointments there; and whether he will appoint a commission to inquire into that branch of the public service or introduce legislation placing the appointments open to competition like other branches of the public service?

I am not aware that any dissatisfaction as to the appointment in question exists, but I will communicate my hon. Friend's question to the Lord Chancellor, who is the Minister principally responsible.

asked the Postmaster-General why the post office at Notting Hill Gate has, since 12th July, been closed at 8 p.m. on week-days and entirely on Sundays; and whether, in view of the complaints that have consequently arisen, he will revert to the hours of service prior to that date?

In consequence of rebuilding operations at the branch office in Archer Street, Notting Hill, it was found necessary in October last to transfer part of the work usually performed at that office to the Notting Hill High Street office and to extend the hours of business at the latter office during the course of the alterations, the hours of business at the Archer Street office being correspondingly restricted. This exchange of hours of business was only temporary, and the normal arrangements have now been reverted to. I consider that the requirements of the locality are adequately provided for, and that there are no grounds for extending the hours of business at the Notting Hill High Street office.

asked the Post-master-General if he would state the number of appointments during the year ending 30th June, 1911, as overseers, assistant superintendents, Class 2, and assistant superintendents, Class 1, in the circulation office, the metropolitan district offices, and the sub-district offices, London, respectively; and the number of existing vacancies in these classes respectively?

The numbers are as follows:—

asked the Postmaster-General whether, on the transfer of the Glasgow Corporation telephones to the Post Office, an assurance was given to. the staff that their conditions of employment would not be less favourable than those enjoyed under the corporation; whether it was the practice of the corporation to give an annual increment of £5 every 1st of June to clerks of a, certain class; whether this increment since the transfer has been paid with reluctance and in arrears by his Department; and whether his Department intends fulfilling the original assurance or departing from it altogether?

The assurance was given, and there is no intention of departing from it. As I informed the hon. Member on the 11th April last the great majority of the officers in question have received established appointments, and the increments of their class are being paid as they accrue. Two of the three officers whose cases were then under consideration have since been classed as unestablished, with a scale of pay and conditions of employment which, taken together, are not less favourable than those they enjoyed under the corporation. The case of the third of these officers, who refused an established appointment, is still engaging my attention.

asked the Postmaster-General whether he is aware that the temporary branch post office at the Glasgow Exhibition, open for the transaction of postal and telegraph business from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, is staffed by temporary clerks, with the exception of a female superviser, who is on duty from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and whether he will state on what grounds work of the kind referred to, formerly deemed important enough to require the employment of established officers under supervision of a male overseer, has come to be regarded as of little enough consequence to be relegated to unappointed clerks?

I am aware that the work at the temporary branch office at the Glasgow Exhibition is being performed by temporary officers. The arrangement is working well, and I consider it to be preferable to the alternative which would have been to withdraw established officers to perform the temporary work and to provide for the work from which they were withdrawn, either toy extra duty or by employing temporary staff.

asked the Postmaster-General: (1) What was the alteration in circumstances which last year occasioned the discontinuance of the special postal service from Dava, Nairnshire, to Glenferness; (2) Why have communications from the Ardclach (Nairnshire) parish council with reference to the Glenferness postal service not been answered by the Post Office; and (3) what practical difficulties precluded the adoption of suggestions made by the Ardclach parish council with reference to the Glenferness postal service?

The service in question was instituted at the request of the late Earl of Leven and Melville in consideration of the official position which he held. It should have been terminated when he ceased to hold office, but was temporarily continued at the request of the present Earl. This was done pending his decision whether he would defray its cost, which both my predecessor and myself felt we could not continue indefinitely to impose upon the taxpayer. The Ardclach parish council suggested in 1909 that the postman should leave Glenferness at night instead of on the following morning. To this there were practical objections; and I regret that they have not been explained to the council. They are that there would be obvious inconvenience in collecting letters from residents on the walk at so late an hour, and in requiring late attendance at the Relugas and Dumphail offices.

asked the Postmaster-General whether he will favourably consider the petition which has been forwarded to him by over 200 residents in the district between Ormonde Terrace, Primrose Hill, on the east, to Charlbert Street, on the west; and from the Albert Road, on the south, and St. Edmund's Terrace and Henry Street, on the north; and further north along the Avenue Road and Townshend Road, protesting against the closing of the only reasonably available local sub-office in Henry Street, St. John's Wood, which existed for many years?

The town sub-office in Henry Street, St. John's Wood, was closed recently in consequence of the resignation of the sub-postmaster. The question of providing another office in the immediate neighbourhood is now under consideration.

asked the Postmaster-General whether, in view of the stagnation of promotion in the Cork Post Office and the official announcement that the promotion of the Cork staff to existing vacancies will depend upon the qualifications of the officers concerned, he will state what qualifications are required other than those of good conduct, long service, or technical ability; and whether he will ascertain immediately how many of the Cork staff are fully qualified for promotion, and state the position these officials occupy: on the seniority list?

Their probable efficiency in the class in which officers will serve is necessarily the principal factor in determining promotion; but no man is promoted whose conduct is not good and due weight is given to length of service and technical ability. Where a number of men are' eligible for promotion the question that arises when a vacancy occurs in the higher class is which of them is the best qualified, and it would not be a convenient course to follow for me to ascertain and announce this as regards the Cork staff in anticipation of a vacancy occurring.

asked the Postmaster-General whether his attention has been called to the case of Mr. W. Boyd, late of Belturbet, who died last June, leaving a widow and four children, and to whom a pension of £19 odd was awarded about the date of his decease; and whether, in view of the official statement that the pension rights of an established officer amounted frequently to as. much as 10 per cent. of the officer's wage, he will say what proportion of the pension rights will be received by the widow and: family of this particular officer?

In order to retain the higher rate of pension payable under earlier Superannuation Acts, Mr. Boyd declined to adopt the provisions of the Act of 1909, which is the only statute under which Grants can be made to the representatives of deceased Civil servants. Nothing is, therefore, due to his widow out of public funds.

asked the Postmaster-General whether he could yet state what is to be done with regard to the telephone service asked for by the town of Gillingham, Dorset?

A telephone exchange will be established at Gillingham as soon as the new post office now being provided is ready for use, and in the meantime I am making enquiries to ascertain whether it is practicable to establish a call office in the existing post office, which is not suitable for an exchange.

asked the Postmaster-General if some women operators in the London Trunk Telephone Exchange work till 10.0 p.m., and are not paid extra remuneration; whether instead a special duty has been instituted, whereby such operators receive ordinary pay for the late work, but are allowed, in lieu of such extra pay, to attend the offices seventeen minutes later than usual; whether he is aware that no proper provision has been made to enable the persons working overtime to obtain refreshments; and whether the agreements under which these operators work stipulates a working day between the hours of 8.0 a.m. and 8.0 p.m., except under special circumstances; and, if so, what are the special conditions prevailing which compel the Central Trunk Telephone Exchange to be worked under the conditions mentioned above?

The circumstances in which it has been necessary recently for some few operators on the Trunk Exchange to remain on duty till 10 p.m. were explained by me in reply to the question put by the hon. Member for South-West Ham on the 24th instant. I endeavoured to make it clear on that occasion that in such of the cases in question in which the time between 8 and 10 p.m. was worked as ordinary duty and not as extra duty that course was followed because the officers concerned preferred it. An additional time allowance of seventeen minutes was made because, time after 8 p.m. being counted as time and a seventh, seventeen minutes is the correct allowance on this basis in respect of two hours of night duty. Suitable provision was made for the officers retained after 8 p.m. to obtain refreshment at 6 p.m. or after, the arrangements being made by the committee of the dining club maintained and managed by the staff. The hon. Member is right in believing that except in special circumstances, telephonists in London usually perform their work between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.

asked the Postmaster-General whether, in view of the fact that a large area of country near Streamstown, county Westmeath, is outside the postal telegraph delivery limit, he will have a postal telegraph office established at that centre, or arrange for delivery of telegrams from the nearest telegraph office now existing, whether on the adjoining railway or elsewhere?

In 1898, and on many occasions since, my predecessors have offered to establish a telegraph office under guarantee at Streamstown, and I renewed this offer two months ago but it has not up till now been accepted. Telegrams are despatched and received at Streamstown railway station, but the company have hitherto been unable to deliver them outside the station premises, at any cost which I should be justified in paying. I will, however, again approach the company in the matter and communicate the result to the hon. Member.

asked the Postmaster-General whether his attention has been called to the fact that the delivery of letters is unsatisfactory in the neighbourhood of the village of Streamstown, county Westmeath; and whether he will arrange to have the mail-bag from the morning mail taken off at Streamstown or sent back from Mullingar by the 9.30 train instead of being sent on to Moate and taken back to Streamstown from there, which causes great delay and greater expense.

I am having inquiry made in the matter, and I will communicate the result to the hon. Member.

asked the Lord Advocate whether he will institute a commission of inquiry into the conditions of service of warders and other prison officials in Scotland, in view of the fact that their hours average sixty-two per week, that they perform Sunday labour without either time off or extra remuneration, and that no other branch of the Civil Service works more than forty-eight hours per week?

The hours of duty of warders and other prison officials in Scotland average from sixty-one to sixty-two hours per week. The conditions of service were fully considered when certain increases of pay were sanctioned by the Treasury, which came into effect on. 1st October, 1910. In these circumstances, while I will give full consideration to any complaints that may be submitted, I do not propose to appoint a commission of inquiry.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he will supply details up to the latest date available of the imports of tea into this country for home consumption, showing how much is imported from India and Ceylon, from China, and from Java, respectively, in the last twelve months, and the same for the previous twelve months?

The following statement shows the quantities of tea of India, Ceylon, China, and other countries on which duty was paid for home consumption in the twelve months ended 30th June, 1910, and 1911:—