asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the attention of the Government has been called to the character and record of one of the principal witnesses for the prosecution in the trial of Mr. Bertrand Stewart at Leipsic; and if any representations have been made, or will be made, to the German Government with a view of a reconsideration of those proceedings in the interests of justice?

I can add nothing to the replies which have already been returned to the questions on this subject.

asked the President of the Board of Agriculture whether he can state where the new test station for cattle intended for exportation to South Africa will be located; and who will be in charge of the station?

No decision has as yet been arrived at with regard to the establishment of a station and it would be premature therefore for me to say anything as to the question of site. But it will in any case be under the direct control and charge of the Board.

asked who will bear the cost of testing the animals at the test station for tuberculosis.

The intention is that the cost of the upkeep of the station, if it is established, should be met by fees payable by the owners of the stock quarantined or tested thereon.

Is it proposed to allow the representatives of foreign buyers to conduct the tests at these stations?

I think the test will be quite well conducted by the staff at the station.

asked whether the Board of Agriculture are collecting information and statistics which will show the amount of Johne's disease in this country; and who is investigating this disease on behalf of the Board?

The Board's veterinary officers have been collecting information with regard to this disease for some years past, and their inquiries are still proceeding. The nature of the disease is also being investigated by the scientific staff of the Royal Veterinary College. There is at present no obligation on the part of owners of stock to report outbreaks of the disease, and no statistics of its prevalence are therefore available.

Does not the right hon. Gentleman think it is advisable that this should be a notifiable disease?

There has been no general request on the part of the agricultural community for the disease to be made notifiable, and until there is some stronger movement in favour of it I do not see my way to take the step.

asked whether the Development Commissioners have made any Grant for enabling milk records to be kept in England as they have done in Scotland; and whether the Board of Agriculture have asked for a similar Grant for England?

The Board have recently made an application for a Grant from the Development Fund for this purpose, which is now under consideration.

Through whom will it be worked—through the colleges and institutions of the country?

I should hope it would be worked more through the societies which are directly interested in dairy farming, but I can give no details at present. The matter is under discussion.

asked the President of the Local Government Board whether mystin, used as a preservative for milk, is allowed under the Regulations of the Board; and whether it contains sodium nitrate, and is therefore a danger to a person consuming it?

Draft Regulations have been prepared by the Local Government Board prohibiting the addition of any preservative substance to milk intended for sale for human consumption. Notice of these Regulations was I given in the "London Gazette" of the 22nd instant, in accordance with the provisions of the Rules Publication Act, 1893. I am advised that "mystin" contains sodium nitrite (not nitrate), and that this is a drug with a powerful physiological action.

May I ask the right hon. Gentleman what articles are included?

I would advise my hon. Friend to wait until the Regulations are submitted to those concerned. He will then see what articles are included.

May I ask when these Draft Regulations will be circulated?

They will be circulated very soon.

asked the President of the Local Government Board if he can say approximately what proportion of the fresh milk imported from abroad is examined bacterially in regard to tubercle, and how long it takes to examine a sample; and has any tubercle been found in the samples reported on in recent months?

During the last five months of last year fifty consignments of fresh milk were imported. Forty-three samples were examined bacteriologically, but in no case was the tubercle organism found to be present. A conclusion that the organism is absent is not arrived at until six weeks after the receipt of the sample.

asked whether it is with the approval of the Board that some county councils are throwing the sinking fund charges in respect of statutory small holdings upon the county rates; and whether, in the event of a judicial decision being hereafter given to the effect that such action is ultra vires The Small Holdings Act, 1908, such councils run the risk of being surcharged the amount of the above charges?

The approval by the Board of the practice referred to is only that which may be implied by their approval of schemes in which the sinking fund charges in respect of purchase money are not treated as expenses to be recouped out of the rents. The second inquiry of the hon. Member should be addressed to my right hon. Friend the President of the Local Government Board.

Is there not a danger, if the county councils follow the procedure that is evidently now approved by the Government, of their being ultimately surcharged?

I can express no opinion on that except to say that in the case of the West Riding of Yorkshire and Glamorganshire, where the charges are borne by the rates and not out of the rent payable by the small holders, there has been, no case of surcharge.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will state how many aliens have been convicted of crimes and minor offences since 1st January, 1906; and how many of these have been deported?

It is not possible to say how many aliens have been convicted of offences since 1st January, 1906. The only information available is given yearly in the Reports under the Aliens Act, and relates to the aliens received into prison on conviction. Taking the figures already published for the years 1906 to 1910 and provisional figures for 1911, it appears that in the six years 16,878 convicted aliens have been received into prisons in the United Kingdom. Of these 2,378 were recommended by the Courts for expulsion and 2,173 expulsion orders have been made.

Are the Courts of Justice tending to a more uniform practice in exercising their powers under the Act than the right hon. Gentleman's predecessor stated they were last Session, and have any further instructions been issued from the Home Office in regard to powers under the Act?

That hardly arises out of the question.

How many of those aliens, having been deported, have returned to the country and been deported a second time?

That is obviously a question of which I must have notice.

asked how many persons were killed or injured by motor omnibuses and by tramcars, respectively, in the metropolitan area during each of the past five years; and how many passengers were carried by motor omnibuses and by tram-cars, respectively, during the same period?

I shall be happy to furnish the information, so far as it is available, if my hon. Friend will put down an unstarred question. I have the figures for the first part of this question, but, so far as I am aware, there are no more definite records of the number of passengers than those contained in the last Report on London Traffic, which are largely based on estimate.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether there is anything and, if so, what in the rule made by his predecessor with respect to the treatment of offenders who have been committed for an offence not involving dishonesty, cruelty, indecency, or serious violence which is incapable of application to those sentenced to hard labour?

The rules for prisoners sentenced to hard labour provide inter alia, that such prisoners shall for the first month of their sentence be employed in strict separation on some hard bodily or manual labour. This requirement is quite incompatible with the indulgence allowed under my predecessor's rule to certain offenders of the second and third divisions. It is clear that Parliament meant, when it provided for sentence of hard labour, to enable the court to pass a sentence involving severe penal discipline. This intention would be defeated, and the courts deprived of the power given them by Parliament, if the indulgences under the new rules were extended to sentences of hard labour.

Why does not that apply just as much to other sentences in the second and third divisions?

Because Parliament has not laid down similar conditions for sentences in the second and third divisions as for sentences of hard labour.

Are prisoners who are sentenced to hard labour outside the rule which was laid down by the Home Secretary?

What was laid down in regard to sentences of hard labour would be inconsistent with the rule which was laid down by my right hon. Friend last Session.

Would the right hon. Gentleman point out the inconsistency?

I think if the Noble Lord will read the answer I have given, he will see that the conditions laid down in the rule last year are generally inconsistent with the conditions attaching to sentences of hard labour.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that on 8th January last a carted deer hunted by Lord Rothschild's staghounds, in attempting to leap a spiked iron fence at Wing, was impaled and partly disembowelled, being subsequently killed by the hunt servants; and whether, in view of the frequency of such occurrences where carted deer are hunted in an enclosed country, he will introduce, or give facilities for, a Bill to put a stop to this form of recreation?

I have seen a report of this case. I am sorry that I cannot add anything to the replies given last Session by my predecessor and myself to similar questions of my hon. Friend.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if the prisoner, William Ball, made any application, either to the prison authorities or to the Home Secretary, to be treated under and be accorded the full benefit of the new rules laid down by his predecessor to govern cases of political prisoners and prisoners connected with the suffrage agitation; and was any application for such treatment received from any friends of the prisoner?

Shortly after his reception Ball asked the prison officials why he was not being treated under the new rule, and he was told that as he had been sentenced to imprisonment with hard labour he was not eligible for that treatment. The next morning he spoke to the governor and asked leave to petition. This was granted, but after Ball had written three lines he tore it up, remarking to the warder that he thought he would "leave it alone." No other application for treatment under the new rule was made by Ball or by his friends, either to the Home Office or to the prison authorities.

May I ask the right hon. Gentleman if the Home Secretary can revise the various sentences passed, whether they involve hard labour or anything else?

I have explained to my hon. Friend that the Home Secretary would have power to remit a sentence of hard labour.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if his attention has been called to the statement made in the House of Commons on 20th July, 1910, by his predecessor, in regard to treatment of prisoners sentenced for passive resistance and as suffragettes, to the effect that he had given instructions that all persons committed to prison for passive resistance, and all persons committed to prison as suffragettes were, as a matter of course, in the absence of special circumstances, to be accorded the full benefit of the new rules, and any other cases to which it would be possible to apply these rules; and if, under these circumstances, the prison authorities were justified in treating the prisoner, W. Ball, as a person outside the scope of this promise, and the regulations issued to give effect to it, seeing that his offence was a political one, and in connection with the suffragist movement?

The passage quoted from my right hon. Friend's speech must obviously be read in connection with the terms of the rule which he was discussing and which had shortly before been laid before Parliament. That rule applies in express terms only to offenders in the second or third divisions, and therefore does not apply to persons sentenced by the Courts to imprisonment with hard labour. The prison authorities had no option except to pursue the course which they adopted.

Docs not the absence of moral turpitude apply equally to offenders sentenced to hard labour?

Certainly, there might be no moral turpitude, but when my right hon. Friend spoke on the subject he had already published the rule. Those who come under that rule do not include those who are sentenced to hard labour.

Does it include a person convicted of a political offence, and is it within the power of the Home Secretary to place a person sentenced to hard labour for such an offence in the second division so as to enable that person to have the benefit of the new rule?

The rule applies to sentences for political offences, provided there is no moral turpitude and the prisoner is sentenced only to the second or third division. It is quite true, as I have already stated to my hon. Friend, that the Home Secretary would have power to remit a sentence of hard labour.

I beg to give notice that I shall raise the whole question on the Motion for the Adjournment of the House. The position is very unsatisfactory.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will say for what reason George Baker, who was convicted at Uckfield, in Sussex, on 21st December, 1911, on a charge of poaching, but of whose innocence the Home Office were aware on 27th December, 1911, was kept in prison until 20th January, 1912; and whether he proposes to give any compensation to George Baker for wrongful detention?

The hon. Member is mistaken in thinking that I was aware of this man's innocence in December. I did indeed receive a statement to the effect that another man had admitted that he had committed the offence of which Baker was convicted, but as the same man had already given evidence on oath to the contrary it was impossible for me to act on his statement until it had been tested by a prosecution. When it was reported to me on 19th January that this man and another had been convicted of the offence of which Baker had previously been convicted, I was justified in advising the remission of the remainder of his sentence. The case is not one in which I could recommend the payment of compensation from public funds.

Is it not a fact that the magistrate who convicted Baker came up to London specially on the second day after the conviction, and informed the Home Office that he was satisfied Baker was not guilty?

I am not aware of that. If the hon. Member will give me notice of the question I will certainly inquire.

Will the persons who gave false evidence be indicted for perjury?

The person who in the original charge gave evidence against Baker is now in prison. I do not suppose any further action will be taken against him.

Will the right hon. Gentleman send the papers to the Public Prosecutor?

May I ask on what ground the right hon. Gentleman refuses compensation to the man whom society has injured?

The rules as to compensation do not involve the giving of compensation to every person who is charged and subsequently acquitted. There was certainly strong evidence in the case.

He was sent to gaol.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether, in view of the character of some passages in the play called "The Secret Woman," he will say what action, if any, he proposes to take in the interests of public order and decency with regard to those persons who are causing this play to be performed at the Kingsway Theatre?

As the performance was by invitation and not for hire, I am advised that there is no power to take action under the Theatres Act. I do not propose to take any proceedings.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether, in view of the evidence given before the Joint Committee on Stage Plays (Censorship) with regard to the play "Dear Old Charlie," by Mr. Charles Brookfield, the manuscript was reexamined by the Examiner of Plays before its revival; whether any alterations were made; and whether, in its present form, it is considered free from objection?

I am informed that the answers to the first two parts of the question are in the negative. With regard to the third part, the Lord Chamberlain sees no reason for interfering with the decision of his predecessor who licensed the play.

May I ask whether the right hon. Gentleman is aware that this play was described in the "Times" as "cynical and shameless immorality," and whether it is proposed to bring an action for libel against that paper?

I do not know why the hon. Gentleman addresses the question to me. I have no responsibility in the matter.

asked the President of the Local Government Board whether he has received a resolution passed by the guardians of the poor of the parish of St. Mary, Islington, urging upon the Government the necessity of establishing labour colonies where the habitual vagrant can be detained and compelled to work for his maintenance, and whether it is proposed to take any action in this direction or otherwise to deal with the problem?

My right hon. Friend has asked me to reply to this question. I have received resolutions from a number of boards of guardians to this effect, but I regret that I see no immediate prospect of being able to propose legislation on this very difficult question.

asked the President of the Local Government Board whether he has received and considered a report by Dr. Harris, the medical officer of health of the borough of Islington, submitted to the public health committee of that borough, with reference to the finding of the Royal Commission on Tuebrculosis, that a considerable proportion of the tuberculosis of childhood is to be ascribed to infection with bacilli transmitted in the milk of cows; and can he say when legislation on the subject will be introduced with a view to dealing effectively with this evil?

The report has been received and is being considered in connection with the general question to which it relates. With regard to the last part of the question, I may refer to the answer I gave on Thursday last to the hon. Member for the Ripon Division.

asked what is the rate of infantile mortality (children under one year) in England, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Austria, Russia, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada; and in which of these countries women exercise the municipal franchise?

I will circulate an answer dealing with the rates of mortality, so far as they are in possession of the Registrar-General. My present information does not enable me to reply to the latter part of the question.—[See Written Answers this date.]

asked the President of the Local Government Board whether he is aware that in order to comply with the Regulations of the Local Government Board advertisements are inserted for appointment implying that the posts vacant are open to competition, whereas the appointments have been filled before the insertion of the advertisements; and whether, seeing that the practice involves waste of the ratepayers' money, he will see his way to amend the Regulations so as to meet the complaint referred to?

I assume the hon. Member's question refers to the appointment of sanitary officials. I do no not at present see that the Regulations require amendment. The publicity of advertisement is on general grounds desirable, and the provisions for dispensing with it in special cases seem to be sufficient.

Will the right hon. Gentleman allow me to send him correspondence on the matter?

Yes, and I will exchange billets-doux by sending him my circular.

asked what sum was paid for the property known as Hollesley Bay, and what sum has since been expended on the property; what has been the total cost of working the colony and, after giving credit for any profits made, what is the net loss on the undertaking; how many men have been employed at Hollesley Bay and what has been the cost per average man employed there, including the allowance made to families and pocket money; what has been the average period of employment and how many men have been given employment on more than one occasion; and what percentage of men receiving temporary employment at Hollesley Bay is now in permanent employment on the land in other parts of the country and in other industries?

The total amount paid for the purchase of the Colony, including the value of improvements made prior to its transfer to the Central (Unemployed) Body, stock, stores, etc., and law costs, was £43,475. I am not in a position to state precisely what sum has been expended on the property, but from a statement supplied by the Central (Unemployed) Body the amount spent on buildings would appear to be some £12,000. This, I understand, would include some repairs and maintenance of buildings. From the same statement it would appear that the total cost of working the Colony up to 27th January last was £159,732, whilst the amount realised by sales, etc., is given as £38,156. The number of men employed up to 31st January last was 6,724. If we take the net expenditure on the estate as £121,576, the net cost of maintenance per man per week works out approximately at 30.9s. This is exclusive of loan charges and any allowance for the enhanced value of the estate. The average period of employment is 11.7 weeks. The number of men who have been given employment on more than one occasion up to 31st March last was 179. The number of men from Hollesley Bay in permanent employment on the land in other parts of the country up to the same date is, I am informed, nineteen, and at other kinds of work seventeen.

Does not the right hon. Gentleman think that the time has come when Hollesley Bay might be sold for some more useful purpose?

That does not arise.

What is the enhanced value of the estate?

The enhanced value given by the Central (Unemployed) Body's valuer is £11,000 odd. The difference between the Local Government Board and the valuer of the Central Body is responsible for the difference in the calculation of the number of shillings per week.

In calculating the cost per man has there been included in the figure 30s., also the maintenance of the women and children in London?

I think that in order to avoid confusion and the possibility of misrepresentation on this point, if the hon. Member would give notice of any further information that he wants it will be better that the whole of the facts should be brought before the House by hon. Members without any misinterpretation from any quarter.

asked how many adults were emigrated by boards of guardians, acting under the powers given them by the Poor Law, during the last five years, respectively?

The number of adults (persons over sixteen years of age) whose emigration at the cost of the poor rate in England and Wales was authorised by Orders of the Local Government Board during each of the past five years is as follows:—

How were they divided between men and women?

About equally divided between men and women; but the great majority, about 80 per cent., of the people emigrated by boards of guardians were children.

asked the President of the Board of Education, whether, in view of the statement that the Merthyr Tydvil education authority proposes to pay, after 31st March, 1912, the same scale of salaries to the teachers in provided and non-provided schools in their area, this authority will make good to the teachers in the non-provided schools the losses they have sustained by the authority in question having disregarded the law in this respect in the past?

As the hon. Member has been informed, I have no official information with regard to the action of the Merthyr Tydvil education authority in this matter.

asked when the local education authorities of Cardiganshire and Glamorganshire will give effect to the Education Act, 1902, by paying the same rate of salaries to the teachers alike in provided and non-provided schools in their respective areas; and whether they propose to make good the losses sustained by the teachers in the non-provided schools arising from the authorities having failed to carry out their legal obligations in the past in this respect?

I must refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on this subject on Monday last. I have no information with regard to the second part of the question. As the hon. Member has been informed, I am making inquiry into the circumstances attending the action of the local education authorities to which the hon. Member refers, and until I am in possession of the facts I cannot deal with the inference drawn by the hon. Member that the local education atuhorities have failed to carry out their legal obligation.

When will the right hon. Gentleman be in possession of the necessary facts?

I assume after the next meetings of the councils of the two education committees?

When is that?

I think that the education committee of Glamorganshire meet to-morrow. I think that the 14th of March is the county council day, and I think that 25th April is the date of the next county council meeting in Cardiganshire.

Does the right hon. Gentleman mean to say that he cannot make inquiries before the county council holds its meeting?

The inquiries have been made, but I cannot expect an answer from the county council until the county council has met.

Why cannot the right hon. Gentleman expect an answer? Will the right hon. Gentleman make inquiries as to what has actually taken place and state the facts?

I have no power to summon the education committees of the county council. The meetings of the education committees will be called in due course, and whatever is recommended by the committees must be dealt with by the council before we hear from them.

asked the President of the Board of Education whether the differentiation by the local education authorities of Cardiganshire and Glamorganshire as to the salaries of teachers in non-provided schools is due to sectarian reasons, and whether he expects to hear from those authorities on the subject; and whether communications made to the Board of Education months ago on this subject have so far received no more than a formal answer?

I have not been furnished with the reasons which have led to the action on the part of the local education authorities referred to by the Noble Lord. With regard to the second part of the question, I cannot undertake to name any date, but I have reason to believe I shall hear after the next meetings of the county councils. In reply to the last part of the question, I am unable to give a definite reply to the managers, until I have heard further from the local authorities.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware of the published statement to the effect that the committee state that they will be in a better position to consider the question if all religious instruction of a sectarian character were permitted?

I have no official information to that effect.

Has the right hon. Gentleman any information of the facts?

No more than is open to the Noble Lord, with what has been published in the Press.

Has the right hon. Gentleman the slightest doubt of the truth of the statement? I press for an answer.

I am not responsible for the accuracy of the statements in the Press.

It is a plain evasion.

asked the number and names of the public elementary schools in Wales built upon glebe?

The only information in the possession of the Board bearing upon the tenure of public elementary schools is recorded in a Return, No. 178, to the Order of the House of Commons, dated 23rd February, 1906, which was subsequently reprinted and published by the Board in 1907 as List 32. The information contained therein does not enable me to give in a complete form the number and names of the schools asked for.

Will the right hon. Gentleman give me a Return as near as possible to the exact figures?

I have looked into the matter, and I am afraid that I can add nothing to that particular Return. That Return was issued by order of the House. Since then we have not been able to obtain any additional information.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that this is a very material question in view of the Welsh Disestablishment?

asked the Postmaster-General if he will state the regulations now in force for the date-stamping of letters at receiving offices, in view of the fact that letters are now frequently delivered without any date stamp on the back; and whether steps are taken to prevent this omission leading to irregularity and inconvenience in tracing any delay in the delivery of letters?

It has been the practice for some years past, with the view of expediting the work, to omit the date-stamping of letters received for delivery by one post, generally the first, at a number of towns. The absence of the stamp indicates delivery by that post. This practice, having been found to work well, has recently been extended. I am not aware that this omission has led to irregularity or inconvenience in tracing any delay in the delivery of letters.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the dates stamped on the letters are sometimes so I smudged as to be absolutely illegible?

I think a great many improvements have been made in that respect in recent years.

Will the right hon. Gentleman make a still greater improvement?

The staff of the Post Office are well aware of the importance of stamping letters legibly.

asked whether the Government intend, if requested to do so, to remove any telephone wires and poles which have been fixed in past years by the National Telephone Company over and on private property without permission?

I shall be glad to investigate any case of this kind on receipt of particulars. As a rule the powers of the Postmaster-General with respect to wayleaves on private property are no greater than those of the National Telephone Company. I hope, however, that property-owners will not press for removals of wires and poles which will cause interruptions in the service of subscribers.

asked whether the Postmaster-General can appoint a committee to consider the advisability and practicability of a special cheap telephonic service in rural districts for farmers and small holders?

I have revised the scheme for rural party telephone lines so as to allow of smaller and more scattered groups of subscribers being served, and I hope very shortly to obtain the sanction of the Treasury for this scheme. It is hoped that it will meet many cases in which the conditions of the previous scheme could not be fulfilled. It would not appear that the appointment of a committee is necessary at the present time.

asked whether any reduction in existing telephone rates is contemplated as the result of the recent acquisition of the service by the Government?

It is my intention to revise the rates for telephone service when the price to be paid for the National Telephone Company's system has been settled. Until then I can make no statement as to the amount of the new rates. If necessary the proposed rates will be the subject of public inquiry. It is not intended that the revised rates shall be higher than is necessary to secure that the telephone service shall be self-supporting with a reasonable margin of profit.

asked if, with a view to removing apprehension and uncertainty, he can assure the House that no further appointments will be made to the new lower grade of assistant women clerks in the General Post Office until the Select Committee on Post Office Servants has reported on the question?

I would refer the hon. Member to my reply to his question of last Thursday on this subject.

Does the answer which the right hon. Gentleman gave on Thursday mean that he will make no addition to the number already appointed, but will only fill the vacancies made by those who may fall out of the number?

The vacancies to which I referred were in the class of women clerks who are doing work of an elementary kind similar to that allotted to the new class of assistant women clerks.

asked whether a number of telegraphists at the Central Telegraph Office who belong to the Royal Engineer Telegraph Reserve have had a week's pay deducted for the period of their technical training with the Royal Engineers, although they have a week's residue leave due to them; whether such residue leave has been formerly permitted to be taken by Central Office telegraphists and continues to be allowed to provincial telegraphists; and whether, in view of the fact that Territorials in Post Office employ are granted one week's leave with full civil pay and the Army Post Office corps ten days' leave with full civil pay, the right hon. Gentleman will grant to members of the Royal Engineer Telegraph Reserve a similar privilege by allowing them special leave with full civil pay for one week, or permit them to deduct one week from their residue leave?

The facts are as stated by the hon. and gallant Member, except that in all cases—Territorials as well as Royal Engineer Reserve—Civil pay is not given for one week of the period of annual training. The "residue" leave referred to is that part of the holidays which, by arrangement with the staff, has to be taken in the winter months. To allow it to be taken in the summer would necessitate a reduction of the established holiday substitute force. The men of the Army Post Office Corps were performing actual postal work during the ten days in question, and, consequently, were entitled to Post Office pay.

asked whether the difficulties in connection with the question of reckoning for superannuation purposes the Army service actually rendered on Post Office duties of ex-Royal Engineers have been overcome; and, if not, whether the Postmaster-General will take such immediate steps as may be necessary to place the question within the scope of the inquiry by the Select Committee about to be appointed to consider the wages and conditions of service of Post Office employés.

The difficulties in the way of reckoning towards Civil superannuation the Army service rendered by Royal Engineers on Post Office work have not yet been overcome; and are now engaging the immediate attention of the Secretary of State for War and myself. I do not think that a Select Committee upon the wages and conditions of employment of Post Office servants would be a fitting body to consider the question of pension for military service. Any question of pension for Civil service would be within the scope of their inquiry.