asked the Secretary to the Treasury whether he can furnish the numbers of clerks of the first division (including staff clerks promoted from the second division or other ranks), second division clerks, boy clerks, abstractors, and writers employed in the Civil Service on the 1st January of each of the following years: 1893, 1894, 1895, 1909, 1910, and 1911?

As I stated in answer to the hon. Member for the Tottenham Division on the 2nd instant, it would not be possible to give the number of first division clerks employed without making enquiry of each Department. The same is true with regard to staff clerks, who are not technically first division clerks. The approximate figures with regard to second division clerks, abstractors, boy clerks, and writers, so far as they are available, are as follows:—

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland upon what grounds the Local Government Board reduced from 5s. to 3s. per week the old age pension allowed by the Balla, county Mayo, sub-committee, on 4th January last, to Thomas Kenny, of Keelogues; and can he give details of the pension officer's estimate of the claimant's income?

Thomas Kenny was, as stated, awarded a pension of 5s. a week by the pension committee, but, on appeal, the Local Government Board decided that he was entitled to only 3s. a week as his means, calculated in accordance with Section 2 (2) of the Old Age Pensions Act, 1911, exceeded £23 12s. 6d. a year, but did not exceed £26 5s. Thomas Kenny receives £39 a year in wages from the railway company, has a free house valued at £4 a year, keeps a cow, and has £80 in bank.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury whether he could say how many boy clerks or boy copyists were registered for employment in the Civil Service between the 1st January, 1901, and 1st January, 1911; how many of these passed the examination for either the second division, Excise, or Customs during this period; and how many were discharged from the service on reaching the age laid down as the limit of their service as boy clerks?

The number of boy clerks and ex-boy clerks who secured appointments in certain competitions is as follows:—

asked whether the Estates Commissioners have inquired into the application of Mrs. Kate Walsh for reinstatement in her previous holding on the Lansdowne estate, or, in the alternative, for the provision of another holding?

The Estates Commissioners received an application from Mrs. Kate Walsh for reinstatement in a holding formerly occupied by her late husband on the Lansdowne estate, county Kerry, and now in the occupation of another tenant, and, after inquiry and consideration, decided to take no action in the matter.

asked the Chief Secretary what was the price fixed by the inspector of the Congested Districts Board on the holdings in the following townlands on the D. C. O'Connell estate, near Mastergeehy, namely, Coomavoher, Derriana, Bunadreen, Kealafrehane, Canuig, Maulin, Coomaston, Dromeragh, Inchibee, and Foildrinagh; and can he state what was the price fixed previously by the Estates Commissioners and the price at which the tenants signed their agreements, and in particular, can he state what prices have been fixed by the Congested Districts Board's inspector on the holdings of John J. Shea and Charles O'Connell?

The reports of the inspectors of the Congested Districts Board and the Estates Commissioners are confidential documents, and I am not prepared to give the information asked for by the hon. Member.

asked the Chief Secretary whether it has come to his knowledge that the fishermen of the Murrisk sailing boats have been prohibited from otter-trawling at Klem Bay, Achill; whether the by-law against trawling inshore was directed against steam trawling, and is quite unnecessary against the simple operations of sailing boats; whether he is aware that as Klem Bay offers the only remunerative fishing on the Clew Bay coast the effect of rigidly enforcing the by-law would be to destroy the sailing-boat industry, which is already severely tried by the competition with power-boats and by the declining market for mackerel; and whether, under these circumstances, the by-law will be dropped except in its relation to steam trawling?

All trawling is prohibited in Klem Bay under the by-law of 1897. The repeal of the by-law would undoubtedly be an advantage to the Murrisk fishermen, but would probably meet with great opposition in Achill. If there was any reason to expect that this opposition had become substantially modified within recent years the Department would hold an inquiry to consider the matter.

asked the Postmaster-General if he will state the difficulty, if any, that exists in supplying the numbers of officers of each grade employed in the sorting offices of Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, and Glasgow; if he is aware that many of the officers on the postal side in these towns are engaged on counter and clerical duties; and will he consider the advisability of supplying the desired information, which could be furnished by the postmasters of these cities with no expense and with little trouble by return of post?

I have given instructions for the information in question to be supplied, provided it can be obtained with no expense and little trouble, as the hon. Member suggests.

asked the President of the Board of Trade what is the weight and value of foreign chocolate imported into the United Kingdom for the three months January to March of the present year and for the three months January to March, 1911, and also the corresponding figures for the imports of cocoa?

The following statement shows the quantities and values of cocoa and chocolate imported into the United Kingdom during the three months January to March in each of the years 1911 and 1912:—