asked the Secretary to the Treasury whether, in cases where payment of inhabited house duty or other taxes dependent on values of premises were made under protest pending appeal against the assessments of such premises for Poor Law purposes, it was formerly the practice of the Board of Inland Revenue in case of the success of such appeals to sanction the refund of any sum

The answer to the first and second parts of the question is in the negative. With regard to the third part of the question, if on appeal the Income Tax Schedule A and Inhabited House Duty Assessments were reduced by the District Commissioners of Taxes repayment would be made to the extent authorised under the certificate of those Commissioners. If the hon. Member will furnish particulars of the cases he has in mind inquiry will be made.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury what sum is voted annually to the trustees of the British Museum for reproduction of works of art in the British Museum for distribution among local museums; whether municipal museums have any right to receive such reproductions; and how the distribution of such reproductions is arranged?

The provision on the British Museum Vote for reproductions of works of art for distribution to local museums is £600 (Sub-head F). The presentation is at the discretion of the trustees. Electrotypes of Greek and Roman coins, casts of ancient gems, and electrotypes of British historical medals have been presented in this manner to towns selected as suitable, regard being paid largely to extent of population and geographical distribution. From the same grant is defrayed the cost amounting to about two-thirds of the grant of autotype reproductions of prints and drawings which are distributed to a large number of public art galleries and art schools.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury whether dissatisfaction has arisen among the senior first-class officers of Excise since the issue of his committee's report, through whose recommendations these officials, numbering about 850, have simply through their seniority been penalised in not being permitted to reach, as in the case of the lower division clerks, the new maximum salary of their grade, namely, £300; whether he is aware that many of these officials serving in Ireland are, through their length of service, beyond the hope of reaping any further benefit in pay, prospects, or remuneration from overtime while in the service; that many of them have been at the former maximum salary of their grade for periods, ranging from five to fifteen years; whether, in view of these facts, he will be prepared to modify the clause in the report so that all the officers concerned may, through certificate of efficiency, proceed to the new maximum, £300, of their grade?

The maximum of the proposed new scale is not £300, as stated, but £280, with an allowance of £20 per annum to those officers whose present prospects of promotion are affected by the reduction of higher posts. The officers in question are not eligible for this allowance, as shown in paragraphs 134 and 136 of the Committee's Report, which fully explain the position. These officers will be eligible for the benefits accruing from the retrospective application of the scale to the 1st April, 1909.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he is aware that it is customary for the Board of Works, to get the national schools, which are vested in the Commissioners, limewashed inside and out once every year during the summer vacation when application is made; whether he is aware that the contractors have been ordered to limewash the schools in the Caherciveen district now on the inside only; can he state whether this is the result of a report from the new surveyor at Tralee; and whether, in view of the instruction to teachers to keep the schools as models of neatness and cleanliness, he can state on what grounds of economy or otherwise the schools in exposed and storm-swept districts are no longer to be limewashed on the outside?

In reply to the first part of the question, I am informed that the interiors of schools vested in the Commissioners of National Education are limewashed once a year, and the exteriors as occasion requires. An order for interior limewashing only has been given in three cases in the Caherciveen district to be done during vacation. Outside colourwashing will be ordered later on in these cases.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland what place in order of merit did candidate 2342 obtain in the first division, and has she been summoned to training?

The Commissioners of National Education inform me that the candidate whose number at the last King's Scholarship examination was 2,342 passed in the first division. She stands 177th in the list of competitors for admission to Our Lady of Mercy Training College, Blackrock, to which 112 students are being summoned for the course beginning next month. The college authorities have not yet furnished particulars of the candidates who have been selected.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he is aware that a circular has been issued by the Irish Land Commission to certain tenants in Queen's County who had lodged applications to have fair rents fixed on their holdings, informing the tenants that their eases had been adjourned for two years to enable the tenants to put the holdings into a proper state; whether these notices were addressed to reinstated evicted tenants who had been out of their farms for many years, and the land conacred by the landlord and thus deteriorated; whether the tenants must continue to pay a rack-rent and improve their holdings in such a manner for two years, or such further period as the inspector may deem necessary; whether this notice is in accordance with the rules and regulations made under the authority of the Land Acts; and, if so, whether there is any limit to the discretion of an inspector in deciding when a farm is in a proper condition to have a fair rent fixed?

The Land Commission inform me that in four cases in Queen's County applications to have fair rents fixed were adjourned by order of the Sub-Commission court owing to the condition of the holdings. In two of these cases the applications, which were to have a fair rent fixed for a second statutory term, were adjourned for two years to enable the tenants to put their holdings into a proper state. The other two cases were applications under Section 65 of the Irish Land Act, 1909 (Future Tenants). One case was adjourned for one year, and the other for two years, on similar grounds. On judicial rents being fixed in these cases, the parties will get the benefits conferred by Section 3 of the Land Law (Ireland) Act of 1896, as to the beginning of the judicial rent. The circular referred to was the ordinary notification of the decision of the court. Each case will be again listed for hearing in due course at the expiration of the applicable period.

asked the Chief Secretary on what grounds an old age pension has not been granted to Mrs. Deborah Griffin, Ballycarberry, near Caherciveen, in view of the fact that she has attained the statutory age and that the local subcommittee decided that she was fully en- titled to the maximum pension; and can he state what legal proof the pension officer submitted in support of his contention that she was not entitled on the ground of means?

The Local Government Board disallowed the claim of Mrs. Griffin as they estimated her means at more than £31 10s. a year.

asked the Chief Secretary what further steps, if any, have been taken by the Congested Districts Board to complete the purchase of the F. S. Williams estate, Mastergeehy, near Waterville; whether he is aware that the landlord appears to take very little interest in the estate, which he has visited upon one occasion, and that the agent is letting the grazing lands to others than tenants, although the majority of the tenants have very small holdings; and whether steps will now be taken to expedite the purchase?

The Congested Districts Board are still in correspondence with the agents regarding the purchase of the estate referred to. The Board have no information with reference to the other matters mentioned in the question.

asked the Chief Secretary whether the Estates Commissioners have received applications for reinstatement from the following tenants who were evicted from their holdings on the Marquis of Lansdowne's state, county Kerry, namely, from Mrs. Bessie O'Shea, Kenmare; Thomas O'Shea, Kenmare; James Shea, Kenmare; Mrs. Kate Walsh, Kenmare; Timothy Daly, Granafulla, Waterville; Patrick Daly, Granafulla, Waterville; Mrs. P. Curran, Murragh, Waterville; and James Sullivan, Spunkane, Waterville; what action the Estates Commissioners have taken, or intend to take, with a view to the reinstatement of those evicted tenants; and, if the Estates Commissioners have taken no steps to reinstate these evicted tenants, whether he will direct inquiries to be made in their cases?

The Estates Commissioners have received applications from James Shea, Timothy Daly, and Patrick Daly, for reinstatement in holdings formerly occupied by them on the Lansdowne Estate, county Kerry, and have noted their applications for consideration in the allotment of untenanted land acquired by the Commissioners. The Commissioners have also received similar applications from Bessie O'Shea, Kate Walsh, Patrick Curran, and Johanna Sullivan, and, after inquiry and consideration, have decided to take no action in these cases. The Commissioners do not appear to have received any application from the Thomas O'Shea referred to by the hon. Member.

asked the Chief Secretary if Mr. James T. O'Connor, of Killarney, is a justice of the peace for the county of Kerry; and, if so, if he will state the exact date of his appointment; who recommended him to the Lord Chancellor; and on what date he took the oaths prescribed by the Promissory Oaths Act of 1868; and if Mr. O'Connor's name was removed from the register of voters for seven years?

I am informed that Mr. James T. O'Connor was appointed to the magistracy for the county Kerry on the 7th of June, 1907, and was sworn in as a magistrate on the 10th of the same month. He was appointed by the late Lord Chancellor upon his own responsibility. The answer to the concluding paragraph is in the negative.

asked the Chief Secretary how many persons are under police protection in the county of Kerry including those protected by patrols; and if he is aware that Lord Justice Cherry stated in his address to the grand jury of the county of Kerry at the summer assizes that there were eleven people under police protection, when he should have stated that there were eleven families (not people) under police protection, not including those families and persons protected by patrols?

The Inspector-General informs me that there are in county Kerry eleven persons under constant police protection, and fourteen persons protected by patrols. Lord Justice Cherry, in his address to the grand jury, evidently referred to the eleven persons under constant protection. The families of persons under protection are not included in the returns unless the individual members require a separate protecting force, in which case each individual so protected would appear in the returns.

asked the Chief Secretary whether he is aware of the necessity for a breakwater at Newbridge, Rathmullan, county Donegal; and, seeing the need for and moderate cost of having the same effected, whether he will take steps to see that the work will be done without delay?

As I stated in my reply to the question of the hon. Member on 13th March, 1907, the question of erecting a breakwater at Newbridge was considered by my predecessor, who decided that the matter must be deferred in view of the stronger claims of other localities. I have nothing at present to add to that statement.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for India whether the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal has issued executive instructions to district magistrates as to the manner in which they are to exercise their legal powers for the suppression of sedition by directing that they should seek out the disaffected and argue with them instead of using their legal powers to suppress sedition; and, if so, whether such instructions will be withdrawn?

The Secretary of State has no information.

asked the Prime Minister whether, considering the larger interests affected in England, both as regards population and finance, by any alteration of legisltion and administration in Ireland, he will undertake to convey to the leaders of the majority of the Members from English Constituencies simultaneously all particulars of the Government's Irish Home Rule proposals for next Spring Session which it may be necessary to explain, directly or indirectly, to the leaders of the Irish majority in this House in advance of the production of the Bill itself?

The Government will exercise their own discretion in regard to all these matters.

asked the Prime Minister whether, before proceeding with the Irish Home Rule Bill, he will invite a clear expression of opinion as regards self-government for England from the leaders of the majority in the purely English constituencies in order that the relative claims of England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland may not be mutually destructive, and in order that the will of the English majority may not be overpowered in England itself?

The answer is in the negative.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether there is any restriction on the use of a false name by an insurance company when it may amount to a false pretence; whether he is aware that the success of the so-called Irish Provident Assurance Company in obtaining money was due to the use of that name and its implication that the company was Irish; whether the Board of Trade, having allowed its directors to do life insurance business contrary to Law and to their own articles, will now allow those same men, as directors of the London and Provincial Assurance Company, by transferring these life cases to themselves, to escape the consequences of insolvency on the endowment cases; and, whether, as a condition of being allowed to retain life contracts illegal in origin, the London and Provincial will be required to indemnify the endowment policy-holders of the Irish Provident Company?

I have nothing to add to toy previous answers on this subject.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he will state what were the quantities of coffee imported into the United Kingdom from British possessions and foreign countries, respectively, during the financial year ended 31st March, 1911?

The following statement gives the information desired:—Quantities of coffee imported into the United Kingdom from British Possessions and foreign countries, respectively, during the financial year ended 31st March, 1911:—

asked the Postmaster-General whether he is aware that for a considerable number of years an evening postal service has existed between Ballysteen sub-post office and Askeaton, county Limerick, a postman leaving the former at 6.20 o'clock p.m., but for the last three months the service has been discontinued, with the result that the people between Ballysteen and Askeaton, a large population, the distance between the places being nearly four statute miles, have been inconvenienced thereby; whether he is aware that a petition, setting out the grievance in question and signed by the principal inhabitants, was sent to the postmaster in Limerick requesting a return to the old arrangements, which had given general satisfaction; and whether he will now, as the local people request, have the old arrangements continued?

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

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture whether he has received a resolution passed by the Banks Fishermen's Association on the 8th July, 1911, supporting the claim of the Lancashire Fisheries Committee for a Grant-in-Aid of their scientific and development work; and, if so, whether he has forwarded a copy of that resolution to the Treasury, together with any recommendations from the Board?

The Board have received a letter from the Association to which the hon. Member refers asking that a grant should be made for the improvement of the local shell-fish beds. The matter is covered by the proposals which have been submitted by the Board to the Development Commissioners, and no action can with advantage be taken with respect to it until the decision of the Commissioners has been arrived at.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture whether he can state in detail the different objects to which the sum of £19,500, included in Vote 11, Sub-head F, Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, 1911–12, will be devoted?

The grants to be made out of Sub-head F of the Vote for 1911–12 will not be allocated until towards the close of the financial year. They will not, however, differ very materially from those made out of the corresponding Subhead of the Vote for 1910–11, details of which I should be happy to supply to my hon. Friend if he so desires.

asked the Attorney-General whether he can state the number of appeals that have been brought from the decisions of the Comptroller-General of Patents to the Law Officer of the Crown during the present year; and what is the actual condition of the list in relation to these appeals?

The suggestion that there are heavy arrears in the list of appeals to be disposed of by the Law officers is without foundation. On 31st July last, when the last Law Term came to an end, every appeal entered and ready for hearing by the Law officers had been heard and disposed of. Only seven cases remain undisposed of in the list of appeals, and each of these cases is undisposed of, not because the Law officer concerned is not willing and ready to hear it, but because of adjournment at the request, or for the convenience of, parties concerned.