asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether any date will be fixed by the Insurance Commissioners for the collection of the cards of insured persons, and the claiming by the society of the amount represented by the stamps thereon; and, if so, how frequently will these cards be collected, and on what dates in each quarter or other period that may be fixed by the Commissioners, or will approved societies be allowed to fix their own dates for collecting the cards of their members; and, if so, will such societies be allowed to fix the first week in January, April, July, and October of each year respectively?

This is a matter for arrangement between the Insurance Commissioners and approved societies, on which I am not in a position to give any undertaking. I may say that suggestions have been made that the period should be quarterly.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the clerks and officers of the Metropolitan distress committees will be given preference in the appointments under the National Insurance scheme in the event of their present employment being terminated as a result of the measure?

I can give no undertaking on the hypothetical point put by the hon. Member.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether it will be in the power of the Local Government Board or other authority, under Clause 47 of the National Insurance Bill, to recoup the Belfast Board of Guardians the sum of £35,000 expended by them on the Abbey Sanatorium; and whether he is in a position to make any statement with regard to the question generally of the recoupment of local authorities for expenditure of this nature already incurred?

I am not in a position at present to add anything to the reply given to the hon. Member for Cork City on the 30th October, but I am considering the matter.

asked the Chief Secretary if he can state whether the Congested Districts Board have taken any steps to acquire the congested estate of Mr. P. A. G. Grehan, of Carnacon House, county Mayo, who has informed his tenants that he is willing to sell the property to the Board?

The estate referred to has not so far been offered for sale to the Congested Districts Board. The Board will communicate with the owner.

asked whether the name of John Gorman, of Ruskey, Convoy, county Donegal, has been noted by the Estates Commissioners as a suitable person for reinstatement under the Evicted Tenants Act; and, if so, whether there is any immediate prospect of his being allotted a farm?

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given to his similar question on this subject on the 17th February last, to which I have nothing to add.

asked the Chief Secretary whether he is aware that the labourers in the Ballygomartin rural district of Belfast, have made application for the erection of a number of labourers' cottages and that the local council approved of a scheme for their erection; and whether he can state the cause of the delay in proceeding with the erection of the cottages?

The Belfast Rural District Council have adopted a scheme for sixty-six cottages, thirty-six of which are in the Ballygomartin electoral division. Considerable difficulty has been experienced with regard to the sites proposed to be acquired, but alternative sites have been arranged for in some cases, and it is intended to sign a petition at to-day's meeting asking the Local Government Board to hold an inquiry into the scheme.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if his attention has been drawn to the case of Fred Hayton, now in Wakefield gaol, undergoing a term of three months' imprisonment for theft; and, seeing that a special appeal was made by the superintendent of police for a nominal sentence, will he inquire into the mental condition of the prisoner, with a view to a reduction of the sentence?

I have made inquiry in this case, and regret to find no ground for interference with the sentence. I am unable to confirm the statement that the superintendent of police made any special appeal. The medical officer of the prison reports that the prisoner's mental condition is normal, and he has recovered from the natural depression of spirits caused by his conviction.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will state when the Return will be laid as promised stating the names and nationality of neutral vessels which were captured by belligerents during the Franco-Chinese War and the Russo-Japanese War, stating the nature of the cargoes carried and the results of such belligerent action?

also asked the First Lord of the Admiralty if he will say when the Return will be laid of the neutral vessels which were captured during the Russo-Japanese war and subsequently adjudicated upon by Russian and Japanese Prize Courts, stating the nationality of the ships, the nature of the cargoes carried, and the decisions of the Prize Courts?

I will answer, at the same time, this question and a similar question addressed to the First Lord of the Admiralty. The two volumes referred to in the answer given to the hon. Member's question on the 5th April last are not yet ready for issue, the material necessary to make them complete proving very difficult to obtain, in some cases, though every endeavour is being made to procure it. The same difficulty stands in the way of preparing at present a complete Return for Parliament, though I have not lost sight of the matter. If a Return of captures of only British vessels were required, it could be prepared at once. The difficulty lies in obtaining details in regard to the capture of vessels of other nationalities, and the various stages of Prize Court procedure to which they have been subjected.

asked the President of the Local Government Board if the cost of administering and maintaining casual wards in the Metropolis after the new order is in force will be a common one spread over the whole Metropolis; whether it is proposed to institute work other than oakum picking or stone breaking for the inmates; and if arrangements will be made whereby men or women wishing to leave early to look for work may be enabled to do so?

The expenses of casual wards will continue as at present to be charged on the Metropolitan Common Poor Fund. The administration will be subject to the same regulations as before—qualified only by the necessary modifications. I hope that the change may result in administrative improvements. What alterations, if any, may come to be made in the present regulations with regard to the two points referred to in the question I am not at present in a position to predict.

asked the President of the Board of Trade what is the estimated net emigration of British subjects to Canada, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand respectively, during the decade 1901–1910, inclusive?

The excess of the number of passengers leaving this country for ports in the several dominions over those arriving in this country from such ports has been, in the ten years 1901–10, as follows. Excess of outward over inward passengers described as British subjects:—

In the movement to and from British				1901–10.
		North America		599,806
Do.	Do.	British South Africa		65,451
			1901–5.	1906–10
Do.	Do.	Australia	27,120	65,406
Do.	Do.	New Zealand		36,760

In years previous to 1906 separate particulars relating to Australia and New Zealand were not prepared. No record is obtained in this country of the actual emigration of persons intending permanently to settle in the countries named.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he is aware that the North-Eastern Railway Company recently closed the station of Eryholme, in the Croft rural district of the North Riding of Yorkshire, thereby causing inconvenience to the farmers and others residing in the district; and whether he can take any action to secure for the inhabitants a continuance of the railway facilities they have enjoyed from the making of the railway to the end of September last?

This is not a matter in regard to which the Board of Trade have any jurisdiction, but I have asked for the observations of the railway company upon the hon. Member's question, and I will communicate with him on receipt of their reply.

asked the Postmaster-General whether he will state the reason why an extra halfpenny stamp has to be affixed to all letters posted on the mail steamers, the property of the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company, plying between Kingstown and Holyhead; and whether the same rule prevails with regard to letters posted on the London and North Western Railway Company's steamers plying between the same ports?

The extra halfpenny stamp which has to be affixed to letters posted on steamers plying between Kingstown and Holyhead is a "late fee." The arrangement is similar to that made in respect of letters posted in boxes affixed to mail trains, and applies both to the City of Dublin and the London and North Western Railway Companies' steamers.

asked the Postmaster-General what subsidies, if any, were paid to the following companies in the year 1910 in respect of postal services: Cunard, White Star, American Service, Orient Line, Peninsular and Oriental, and Union Castle; and upon what date the contract of the Peninsular and Oriental Service expires, and if there is any clause in the agreement under which the Peninsular and Oriental contract may be terminated, with notice, before that date?

A fixed annual postal subsidy of £68,000 under the terms of the contract with my Department was paid to the Cunard Steamship Company, and one of £305,000 under similar conditions to the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company. Payments are made to the White Star Line and the American Line on the basis of the weight of mails carried with a maximum limit of £70,000 per annum in the case of the White-Star Line. The Orient Steam Navigation Company and the Union Castle Mail Steamship Company perform their services under colonial contracts, and payments are made direct to the companies by the Australian and the South African Postal Administration. This country makes to the Colonial Governments a contribution based on its use of the service. The Peninsular and Oriental Company's contract terminates on the 31st January, 1915, subject, however, to twenty-four months' notice. There is no provision for its termination before that date.

asked the Postmaster-General whether his attention has been called to the inconvenience that may arise owing to the refusal of the Post Office authorities to employ messenger boys in their service for the delivery of postage stamps; and whether he will consider the desirability of altering the regulations so as to enable people to send by telephone for the stamps they require?

There are obvious risks in the delivery of stamps, which might be in such number as to be of considerable monetary value, by boy messengers in response to requests by telephone, the payment to be collected by the boys on delivery; and I do not think it advisable to establish such a system.

asked the Lord Advocate whether the School Board of Glasgow have issued instructions to the boys attending the high school there that the school colours must be purchased at a certain firm's premises, that a certain price must be paid for them, and that they must be worn by all the boys attending the school; and, if so, will he say whether the Scotch Education Department proposes to take any action in the matter?

The prospectus of the Glasgow High School for the current session, a document which is issued upon the responsibility of the Glasgow School Board, states that the authorised caps and blazers are supplied at the school only, and must be obtained from the registrar, and that boys are required to wear the school colours, in one of the prescribed forms, on their way to and from school, in the field, at matches and club meetings and when attending school functions wherever held. The Department are not aware of anything in the Statutes under which they act which would warrant their intervention in the matter.