asked the Secretary to the Treasury whether his attention has been called to the claim of the owners of the s.s. "Cairngorm" for repayment of the sum of £6 6s. 4d., being balance of wages due to the steward, William Post, who deserted from the ship at Buenos Ayres in February last; whether he is aware that Post, unknown to his employers, endeavoured to smuggle into the Argentine certain dutiable goods, and that they had to pay a Customs fine of 750 dollars in respect of this offence; and whether, in view of the fact that it is not possible to ascertain Post's address, and of the willingness of the owners to give an undertaking to repay the amount in the event of its being claimed by him, he will give instructions for its refund to them in accordance with the recommendation of the Board of Trade?

The Merchant Shipping Act of 1894 does not authorise the retention of a seaman's wages by his employer in a case such as this except on the order of a Court, and consequently the Treasury have no legal power to authorise the payment of Post's wages to the owners of the "Cairngorm."

asked the Secretary to the Treasury whether, in view of the changes made in the conditions of examination for assistantships of Customs and Excise, as announced for the examination to be held next February, namely, the reduction of the higher age limit from twenty-two to twenty-one years, and the change in the literary portion of the examination programme, and of the fact that only three months' notice of such alterations of the programme has been given, and having regard to the fact that many students who have spent time and money in qualifying themselves for examination under the old regulations will be shut out of all competition if the new regulations are insisted upon, he will recommend that the older regulations be adhered to for the February examination, or that such modifications will be introduced into the revised programme as to ensure that no hardship will be inflicted upon any section of intending candidates?

I must refer the hon. Member to earlier answers which I have given to similar questions, from which it will be seen that it has been decided to allow the former age limits to apply to the examination to be held in February. I am not prepared to suggest to the Civil Service Commissioners any further modifications in the regulations recently issued, which apply equally to all candidates. Although the regulations for the new examination for officers for Customs and Excise were only issued in October definite warning has been given to candidates for the old situation of assistant of Customs and Excise for over eighteen months that no announcement could be made as to the limits of age at future examinations.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, in view of the dissatisfaction which now prevails in the amalgamated service of Customs and Excise at the findings of the Hobhouse Committee of Inquiry, he will state if any modifications in the Committee's Report are contemplated, and, if so, the nature thereof, and when such modifications may be published; and when the findings of the committee are to become operative?

The findings of the Hobhouse Committee have been generally approved by the Treasury, and are being carried into effect in due course. A number of questions have arisen as to the interpretation of some of the recommendations and their application to the existing staff, and requests have been received for the modification of some details of the proposed scheme. These points are being dealt with as quickly as possible, but it is not possible to say when they will all be disposed of.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury whether an examination in connection with the Customs and Excise Departments has been advertised by the Civil Service Commissioners to take place in February, 1912; whether the maximum age of entrants has been altered from twenty-two years to twenty-one; whether notice of this alteration was given to intending competitors, and, if so, what length of notice; and whether, in view of the fact that many youths at present studying for such examination will by this change be deprived of the opportunity of sitting for it, he will recommend the Civil Service Commissioners to suspend the new regulation for six months or a year?

I must refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on the 8th instant to the hon. Member for the Newbury Division.

asked the Chief Secretary whether he will have inquiry made into the circumstances under which Mrs. Nora Shea, Coad, Caherdaniel, has been deprived of her old age pension, with a view to its being restored to her, seeing that the local pension committee were satisfied that she had attained the statutory age?

The claimant's name did not appear as a member of her parent's family in the Census Return of 1841, and the other evidence submitted was not sufficient to satisfy the Local Government Board that she had attained the statutory age. The Board accordingly disallowed her pension in May last. The Board are not bound by the decision of a pension subcommittee.

asked the Chief Secretary on what ground the Local Government Board have disallowed the pension, at the rate of 5s. per week, granted by the Coolaney sub-pension committee, county Sligo, to Mrs. Mary Culleay or M'Guiness, widow; whether he is aware of the fact that she is returned as aged three months in the Census return of 1841; and whether, in the circumstances, he will direct payment of the pension to Mrs. M'Guiness with arrears?

The claim of Mrs. M'Guinness was disallowed by the Local Government Board on the ground that she was under the statutory age. The Mary Culleary recorded as three months old in the Census Return of 1841 appears to have been an elder sister who died young. The claimant, and her elder sister, Ellen, were children of John Culleary's second wife, Mary, whom he married, according to the Census Return of 1851, in 1845.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland the number of first division candidates passed over, respectively, in each training college for girls in Ireland; whether the Commissioners of National Education have asked any explanation of the heads of these colleges as to their action in passing over first division candidates and calling second division and third division candidates in their places; and to whom are the managers of these training colleges responsible for the proper expenditure of the public money they receive for the training of teachers?

The number of candidates for the various training colleges for women students who passed the last King's Scholarship Examination in the first division, but who appear not to have been summoned to training are as follows:—

Marlborough Street Training College	13
Our Lady of Mercy Training College	30
Church of Ireland Training College	(nil)
St. Mary's Training College	17
Mary Immaculate Training College	10
Total	70

These figures include four candidates who were applicants for three colleges and eleven who applied for admission to two colleges. Three of the above candidates for Marlborough Street Training College have been admitted to the Extern Class. The Commissioners of National Education have not asked for any explanation from the heads of the colleges as to the non-admission of first division candidates. With regard to the selection of students for training, it is to be observed that the service marks, which the Commissioners award to monitors and pupil teachers in their final years of service, are added to the marks which they obtain at the King's Scholarship Examination when deciding the order of merit of the candidates in the lists for admission to the colleges. Monitors and pupil teachers who have only obtained second division passes at the examination are consequently sometimes placed higher in the list for the colleges than other candidates who have obtained first division passes, but have not the advantage of service marks. Similarly the marks obtained for the optional subjects—Irish, French, and Latin—are added to the totals after the divisions in the pass lists have been decided, and affect the candidate's position in the list in a corresponding manner to the service marks, although in a much smaller degree. The third division candidates admitted were all teachers already serving in national schools, and for whose admission special provision is made in the Commissioners' code. The accounts of each college are audited annually by the accountant of the Commissioners.

asked what has been the result of the negotiations between the Congested Districts Board and Mr. George A. Moore for the proposed sale of his estate in West Mayo?

The Congested Districts Board hope that the negotiations which are now in progress will soon be completed.

also asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether the Hon. Letterville Cahill has offered her congested estate at Raheenduff, Carnacon, county Mayo, for sale to the Congested Districts Board; is he aware that the tenants of this estate are poor, the average Poor Law valuation of their holdings being £2 10s.; and that it is desirable that this property should be acquired as soon as possible, so that some of the tenants may be migrated to unoccupied lands on neighbouring estates which have been acquired by the Board?

The estate referred to has not been offered for sale through the Congested Districts Board, and they have no information regarding the circumstances of the property except that furnished by or on behalf of the tenants. Further inquiries will be made.

asked whether the Congested Districts Board have taken steps to acquire, under the Land Purchase Acts, the estates of Perry Knox Gore, Sanders Knox Gore, Lewis, Verschoyle, H. H. Jones, Lindsey's, Burke Ormsby, and Major Ormsby, situated in the Ardnaree North and South rural electoral divisions of Ballina union; if he can state whether the owners have offered these estates to the Board; and whether, if the owners refuse to sell, the Board will put the compulsory powers of the Act of 1909 into operation?

The Congested Districts Board have communicated with the owners with a view to acquiring the estates referred to, with the exception of the Burke estate, regarding which they have no information. The Pery-Knox-Gore, Saunders-Knox-Gore, R. J. Verschoyle, H. H. Jones, and Colonel J. B. Ormsby estates have been offered for sale, and the preliminary proceedings are being taken with the object of making offers for them. The Board understands that the owner of the Lewis estate is preparing the maps and documents necessary for a preliminary inspection for lodgment with the Board. They have been in communication with the agent for the Lindsay estate, and the owner of the Major Ormsby estate, but these properties have not so far been offered for sale. None of the owners mentioned have refused to sell.

asked when the Estates Commissioners may be in a position to divide the grass land upon the estate of Charles O'Hara Trench, at Garafine, county Galway?

The owners instituted proceedings for the sale of this estate to the Estates Commissioners in October, 1908. Having regard to the position of this estate on the principal register of sales, and the claims of other estates in priority to it, the Commissioners are not at present in a position to say when it will be reached in its turn.

asked the Under-Secretary for War what number of applicants for service in the Regular Forces have been rejected in each of the last five years; and what are the principal grounds for such rejection?

The hon. Member will find full information on these points as regards numbers in Part III., Table 2, page 45, of the General Annual Report for the year ending 30th September, 1910 (Cd. 5481), and as regards grounds for rejection in pages 1 to 8 of the Report on the Health of the Army for 1910 (Cd. 5599), which will be in the hands of Members to-morrow.

asked whether staff-sergeants appointed under the new scheme to the permanent staff of the Territorial Force will be in regular rates of Army pay; whether staff-sergeants appointed to the force prior to September, 1910, lose on appointment 6d. per diem in the Infantry and 5d. in the Horse and Field Artillery; and, if so, whether the pay of these noncommissioned officers, appointed prior to September, 1910, will be brought up to the Army rate of those appointed subsequently?

The replies to the first and second parts of the question are in the affirmative, except in the case of the Royal Horse Artillery, where the difference is 7d. As regards the last part of the question the reply is in the negative.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will instruct His Majesty's Ambassador at St. Petersburg to request the Russian Government to allow the official presence of the British Consul and to arrange for the presence of a British K.C., with a watching brief, and a trustworthy interpreter at the forthcoming trial of Miss Malecka?

The question of Miss Malecka's nationality has been carefully considered in consultation with the Law Officers of the Crown. The conclusion is that Miss Malecka, notwithstanding that she is undoubtedly a British subject in the view of British law, is also a Russian subject in the view of Russian law; and, consequently, the claim that she should be treated as a British subject when within the Russian Empire is not maintainable. I cannot, therefore, take any steps officially on her behalf. She has, as the hon. and gallant Member is probably aware, been released on bail; and I have no reason to suppose, from such communications as have passed with the Russian Government, that she will not have full facilities for defence at the trial. More than that I cannot say at present.

asked the Prime Minister whether the attention of His Majesty's Government has been directed to the massacre of non-combatant Arabs by the Italian soldiery in the oasis to the south of Tripoli, when the bodies of men and boys in groups varying from fifty to seventy, respectively, shot down indiscriminately, were lying in solid masses piled on one another, and the death at the hands of Italian soldiers of non-combatant Arabs and to the fact that Mr. M'Cullagh, of the "New York World," and Mr. Gottberg, of the "Berlin Lokalanzeiger,"' handed back their passports to General Caneva in disgust at the conduct of the Italian soldiery; and whether, having regard to the fact that Great Britain suspended diplomatic relations with the late kingdom of Naples in consequence of the inhumanity with which that kingdom was governed, to the intervention of the great Powers in 1860 to stop the massacres in the Mount Lebanon district, and to the views of eminent publicists, including the late Sir William Harcourt, that intervention may be the highest policy of justice and humanity, and that intervention may be applied to put an end to crimes the nature of which is such that the best interests of humanity are outraged at it, immediate steps in the various methods known to diplomacy will be taken by His Majesty's Government to secure the termination of acts of military violence in Tripoli and its neighbourhood?

I cannot add to the reply given to the hon. and learned Member on the 9th instant, and to the hon. Member for the Bridgeton Division of Glasgow on the 13th, to the effect that it would be a matter of great and general regret if in any war any belligent did not observe the rules of war agreed upon in international Conventions; but, unless they are prepared to intervene in the war, neutral Powers cannot undertake to investigate or control the military operations of either belligerent.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he will give such information as they possess or can obtain as to agreements between railway companies in restraint of competition, and in particular, of any pooling agreement between the Great Eastern, the Great Central, and the Great Northern Railway Companies?

Railway companies are at present under no general obligation to deposit copies of such agreements with the Board of Trade. In the case, however, of an agreement entered into in 1909 for pooling the receipts from certain classes of traffic carried on, the London and North-Western, Midland and Lancashire, and Yorkshire Railways, heads of the agreement were supplied to the board by the companies concerned, and were presented to Parliament (Cd. 4,695). I have no particulars respecting any agreement such as that referred to in the last part of the question.

asked the President of the Board of Agriculture whether his attention has been called to the case of Booth v. The Bury Free Press, in which damages were recovered on account of the publication of the proceedings before an arbitrator, who was assessing a tenant's claim for compensation for disturbance under the Agricultural Holdings Act; whether such proceedings are rightly concealed from the public or whether the arbitrator has an option; and, if the arbitrator has an option, will the Board of Agriculture instruct arbitrators in future to see that such an inquiry is public wherever possible?

My right hon. Friend has seen the report of the case referred to, which my hon. Friend was good enough to send him. An arbitrator can, at his discretion, exclude the public when the case is heard, and the Board of Agriculture have no power to interfere with his discretion in this respect in cases arising under the Agricultural Holdings Act.

asked the Lord Advocate what are the administrative duties performed by sheriffs principal in Scotland?

It is impossible, by way of question and answer in this House, to give a satisfactory reply to my hon. Friend's question. But I may refer him to Green's Encyclopedia of Scots Law, where, voce Sheriff, he will find an excellent account of the administrative duties performed by sheriffs in Scotland.