asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland the area or extent of land bought in by Lord Clarina at Limerick; has he offered any of the untenanted land for sale to the Commissioners, and, if so, how much; and what is the amount of the advance which has been sanctioned by the Estates Commissioners to him for the repurchase of his estate?

The area of the lands repurchased by the vendor in this case is 1,388 acres, and the advance sanctioned by the Estates Commissioners in respect of them is £14,527; the vendor lodged, in addition, £10,407 in cash. The owner offered no land for sale to the Commissioners for the purposes of distribution.

asked the Chief Secretary when the holdings on the Bantry estate of the Earl of Kenmare will be vested in the tenants who purchased; and whether the cases of the unpurchased tenants of this estate will be considered by the Estates Commissioners with a view to the sale of their holdings to them?

The Estates Commissioners hope that this estate will be reached for inspection during the present financial year, when the cases of any tenants who have not signed agreements to purchase their holdings will be duly inquired into.

asked the Chief Secretary whether he is aware that a claim for an old age pension has been made by Laurence Mooney, of the county of Kildare, who had become an American citizen but has since been granted re-admission to British nationality under the Naturalisation Act, 1870; and, seeing that Mooney has been over twenty years in constant residence in Ireland, whether he will be granted an old age pension?

The case referred to does not appear to have come before the Local Government Board on appeal, and they have ho information with regard; to it.

asked upon what grounds .the Local Government Board refused a pension to Patrick Butler, of Tavanagh. pension district, in Athlone, county Roscommon, in view of the fact that he is seventy-seven years of age and that the farm formerly in his possession was transferred by him more than four years ago to his son, leaving him with no means except that which was voluntarily given to him by his son?

Patrick Butler lives with his son on a farm of thirty acres, which carries a good stock and is fairly well tilled. His maintenance should be worth more than £31 10s. a year; but apart from this, the farm in question appears to have been transferred by him to the son in 1908 under such circumstances as to lead the Local Government Board to deal with the transaction as coming within the meaning of Section 4 (3) of the Old Age Pensions Act, 1908.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty what number of officers and men at present serving in the Navy are English, Irish, and Scotch, respectively; and what numbers there are in the Fleet of the Church of England, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, and other denominations?

No statistics are kept as to the nationality of officers and men. The particulars asked for in the second part of the question are as. follows:—

asked the Under-Secretary 6f State for War the names of the members of the Committee who selected and recommended the ground for the central aviation school; and if he will say what portion of the land was the property of Mr. E. B. Maton, St. Katherine's Hospital, and the Ecclesiastical, Commissioners, respectively?

There were two Committees. The first consisted of Brigadier-General R. C. B. Haking (General Staff), Colonel A. G. Hunter-Western (General Staff), and Captain J. D. B. Fulton (Air Battalion). This Committee selected and recommended the purchase of the ground, as "eminently suitable for an aviation ground." The ground was next visited by the members of the Technical Sub-Committee of the Committee of Imperial Defence—Colonel Seely, Brigadier-General Scott-Moncrieff, Brigadier-General Henderson, Commander Samson, R.N., Lieutenant Gregory, R.N., and Mr. M. O'Gorman. The weather being unfavourable during this visit, the ground was again visited by a Committee consisting of Brigadier-General Henderson, Lieutenant Gregory, R.N., and Mr. 0'Gorman. Their report will be found on page 5 of Cd. 6067. About 2,600 acres has been purchased from Mr. Maton. Some 620 acres are being purchased from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and about 300 acres are being purchased from St. Katherine's Hospital.

asked the President of the Local Government Board whether he is aware that during the coal strike the Worksop guardians opened a labour yard in connection with the relief of the outdoor male able-bodied, and decided to give all this class of relief on loan; and whether the guardians were entitled both to require the men to give their work in return for relief, and also to make them repay the money afterwards?

The opening of a labour yard by the guardians of the Worksop Union has not yet been reported to me, but I have addressed a communication to the guardians on the subject.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he can state the quantity and value of the various descriptions of fresh fish caught by British fishing boats during the year 1911, and exported Abroad; the names of the various countries to which the fish was exported; the quantity sent to each; and the amount of duty levied in each country on fresh fish?

The following statement shows the quantity and value of the various descriptions of fresh fish of British taking exported from the United Kingdom in 1911, distinguishing the four principal destinations to which such fish was exported:—

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he can do anything for Mr. Charles Webb with regard to his claim for compensation against the Russian Government for being kidnapped and transported out of the country, taking into consideration the fact that it was impossible for him to bring direct evidence owing to his having been drugged and rendered unconscious for a considerable time, and also that it is obvious that Mr. Webb could not have got out of Russia without a passport except by the connivance of the Russian authorities, especially when he was in such a state?

Whatever the cause of the absence of corroborative evidence of the truth of Mr. Webb's story, it is impossible to overcome the difficulty that such evidence is entirely lacking and that, in its absence, no claim put forward on his behalf would have any chance of success. As regards Mr. Webb's allegation that he was drugged, this part of his nar- rative was carefully examined by one of the foremost authorities on narcotics in this country, who was of opinion that his statements and the evidence were irreconcilable with the present state of scientific knowledge on this subject. As regards the last part of the question, it is no doubt difficult, if not impossible, for any person to leave Russia by any ordinary route without a passport, but there is no evidence to support Mr. Webb's statement as to the route by which he left that country. According to his story, he awoke to find himself in a train on the way from Dresden to Berlin, whereas the only way of reaching Dresden by rail from Russia is by way of Berlin, there being no line from the Russian frontier direct to Dresden. It is possible that a person might leave Russia without a passport, provided he did not attempt to do so by rail, and left the road before reaching the frontier.

asked the President of the Board of Trade what were the total exports from the United Kingdom to Canada, Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand the year before preference was granted by each Dominion to the Mother-country, and in the last completed year, respectively.

The following statement shows the value of the exports of the produce and manufactures of the United Kingdom to the Dominion of Canada, the South African Customs Union, the Dominion of New Zealand, and the Australian Commonwealth in the year preceding that in which preference was first granted in each case to the United Kingdom, and in all subsequent years:—

asked the President of the Board of Education the total amount of outstanding loans owing by local education authorities in England and Wales for providing public elementary schools, the total annual charge for repayment, the period for which the loans are usually granted, and the average rate of interest paid?

The amount of loans owing by local education authorities, including advances from county capital funds, in respect of loans for the provision of public elementary schools, industrial schools, and special schools, including sites, furniture, and enlargements, but excluding loans for offices and working balance loans, on the 31st March 1910 was £40,278,231. The loan charges for the year 1909–10 were as follows:—

The periods allowed for repayments of loans in respect of public elementary schools are usually—for sites sixty years, for buildings thirty to fifty years according to the wishes of the local education authorities concerned, and for furniture ten years. The average rate of interest calculated from the outstanding loans on the 1st April, 1909, was £3 8s. 6d. per cent. Some particulars of the loans outstanding on the 31st March, 1911, will be found in the statement referred to by my right hon. Friend the President of the Local Government Board in answer to the hon. Member for Greenock [Cd. 5997 of 1911.]

asked the President of the Board of Education whether he has had under his consideration the educational work being done by institutions known as schools for mothers; and whether the Board can see their way to assist those institutions in that work?

The Board have been familiar with schools of the type referred to for several years. The hon. Member will find some remarks with reference to these schools in connection with the desirability of Continuation Classes in Infant Management in a Memorandum, issued by the Board in 1910, on the Teaching of Infant Care and Management in Public Elementary Schools. I am sending the hon. Member with this answer a copy of the Memorandum. A considerable number of classes, in the which the care of infants is the main subject of instruction, have been recognised and aided under the Board's Regulations for Technical Schools.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that in Calcutta a number of shops have been opened for the purpose of betting upon the price of American cotton; whether the Indian Government contemplate a special Act; whether the owners of the gambling houses contend that similar speculation is permitted on every stock exchange; and whether, in view of this contention and the evils arising therefrom, he will consider the advisability of summoning an International Conference with the object of securing governmental cooperation to tax or prevent gambling in futures and options?

The first three farts of this question have been referred to me by my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade, and I would refer the hon. Member to a statement made in the Legislative Council on the 26th February that "a proposal to legislate with a view to suppress cotton gambling is now under the consideration of Government." As regards the last part of the question, which is in the province of the Board of Trade, my right hon. Friend the President asks me on his behalf to say that, as at present advised he is not prepared to take steps to promote an International Conference on the subject.