Estate Duty.
asked the Secretary to the Treasury, whether, before fixing the value of any real property for Estate Duty purposes on the death of an owner, or discussing such value with the legal personal representatives of such deceased owner, the Commissioners of Inland Revenue require the district valuer to make and serve the provisional valuation provided for by the Finance (1909–10) Act, and also that the original values under such provisional valuation be agreed by the legal personal representatives as a condition precedent to fixing the value as at the death of the owner, thereby causing great delay in payment of estate and settlement estate duties and in the administration of the estates of deceased persons; and, if not, whether instructions have been given to the district valuers to fix the values as at the date of death and, if necessary, discuss the same with the legal personal representatives or their agent, irrespective of whether or not the provisional valuations have been made and served?
I would refer the hon. Member to the answer given on the 14th November last by my predecessor to the hon. and gallant Member for Chelmisford. If the owner agrees to the principal value and the total value, a Report is furnished by the Valuation Department forthwith: an objection to a provisional valuation, not affecting total value, is not allowed to delay the valuation for Estate Duty purposes.
Land Purchase (Ireland).
asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland in regard to the estate of Miss Olivia Creagh M'Mahon, West Clare, whether it is contemplated to divide amongst the tenants, in virtue of the Land Act of 1909, that portion of the grazing lands which lies in the townland of Clohaninchy; and whether this will be done as speedily as circumstances permit?
The Congested Districts Board have been in communication with the owner of the estate referred to, but up to the present it has not been offered for sale through them.
asked whether any and, if so, what steps have been taken by the Congested Districts Board in negotiating for the purchase of the Brabazon estate, Clooncan, Ballinlough, county Roscommon; and whether, in view of the facts that the holdings on this estate are uneconomic and in need of the developing work of the Congested Districts Board, and that practically all the land around it has been purchased, will the sale of this estate be expedited as much as possible?
The maps and documents necessary for a preliminary inspection of this property with a view to a sale through the Congested Districts Board have been lodged. The estate has been inspected, and the Board hope to consider the question of making an offer for purchase at an early date.
asked whether the Estates Commissioners have advanced more money to Lord Clarina for the un-tenanted land which he has bought in than he is entitled to; if so, will he say why the Act of Parliament has been overridden; and will he explain why one individual has been allowed to purchase 1,500 acres of untenanted land, some of which was evicted land, whilst congestion prevails in the district?
The reply to the first paragraph of the question is in the negative. With regard to the second paragraph, the Estates Commissioners inform me that the purchase was carried out under the provisions of Section 3 of the Irish Land Act of 1903.
asked whether an application for a second half-acre was received in the Kilmallock scheme from David M'Namara, of Rathany, Hospital; if not, was such application received by the tenant who preceded him in the occupation of the cottage; and, if the latter occurred, will the application hold good for David M'Namara, who became the tenant after the previous occupier had lodged notice of application?
The Local Government Board inform me that no such application was received from M'Namara. An application was made by his predecessor in the occupation of the cottage, Michael Keeffe, but it was received too late to be included by the rural district council in the scheme recently inquired into. The application would hold good for M'Namara if the council think fit to include it in any scheme they may propose to make.
asked the cause of the delay in carrying out the additional half-acre scheme at Kilmallock; how it is that, although the local council are prepared to go into the open market and finance the scheme, they will not get the proper assistance from the Local Government Board; and will the latter body go into their inspector's report as soon as possible and thus enable things to be carried out with rapidity?
As I have already informed the hon. Member this is a very large scheme involving no less than 695 additional half-acres. The local inquiry and the inspection of the plots of land sought to be acquired necessarily occupied a good deal of time. The order in this matter will be completed and issued by the Local Government Board as soon as possible.
Irish Language.
asked the Chief Secretary whether, at the forthcoming examination for clerkships under the Congested Districts Board, the Irish language is only to be given 100 marks out of 3,700, while 600 are to be given to English and 200 to French, German, or Latin; and whether the Board will consider the advisability of giving a more adequate number of marks to Irish, considering that the operations of the Board are conducted mainly, if not wholly, in Irish-speaking districts?
The maximum marks attainable at the examination for clerkships in the Congested Districts Board in the subjects stated are correct. The Board carefully considered the matter and were unanimously of opinion that the number of marks allotted to a colloquial knowledge of Gaelic is sufficient.
TEACHERS DISTRIBUTING LEAFLETS.
asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland by whose instructions the secretaries to the National Board of Education (Ireland) are pressing teachers in the national schools to distribute the leaflets of the National Insurance Commissioners amongst their scholars?
The National Health Insurance Commissioners asked the Commis sioners of National Education whether they would have any objection to the distribution of leaflets relating to the National Insurance Act through the medium of the national schools in Ireland in order to spread a knowledge of the provisions of the Act. As these leaflets bear strongly on the question of national health the Commissioners of National Education undertook to facilitate the distribution of them in the manner indicated, but they are not pressing national teachers to distribute the leaflets amongst the scholars.
Kerry Cow Scheme.
asked the Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture (Ireland) whether he will reconsider the decision given recently regarding the Kerry cow scheme adopted by the Limerick county committee of agriculture, which has the sanction and approval of all classes in county Limerick; and will he say on what grounds was sanction withheld in the first instance?
The Department have not yet given their decision on the scheme in question.
Ordnance Survey Visits.
asked the Under-Secretary for War, whether, in view of the frauds practised upon householders in the suburbs by impostors representing themselves to be authorised to come upon premises, he will direct that notice be given to householders of any intending visit of officials or members of the Ordnance Survey or others requiring an inspection or survey of premises, so that householders may be apprised of the intended visit and may make the arrangements in case of their absence?
When survey work is about to be undertaken in any county the fact is advertised in newspapers circulating in the county, and a special notice, a copy of which I will send to the hon. Member, is sent to all the principal residents in the district. In the case of a town the police are notified and notices are posted in public places. Every surveyor and reviser carries a certificate of appointment which he is instructed to produce when required. Information to this effect is contained in the notice referred to above.
Gold Production.
asked the President of the Board of Trade if he can state the gold production of the world in ounces from and including 1902 to the latest available date under the following divisions: Australia, Africa, United States of America, Canada, Russia, Mexico, and other producers, giving also the total of the whole for each year in ounces and sterling value?
The figures desired, with others, were printed in the Votes for March 18th in reply to a question by the hon. Member for Rochdale.
Dublin General Post Office.
asked the Postmaster-General if any representations have been received from the Dublin General Post Office that the housing of many of the Post Office Departments in Dublin is inadequate; whether any proposals for improving the housing are under consideration, and, if so, since what date; and whether he can state the probable cost of erecting suitable buildings, and when they are likely to be started?
Proposals involving the rehousing of several departments of the Post Office at Dublin have been under consideration for some time; but they are not yet sufficiently advanced to enable the Postmaster-General to form an estimate of the probable cost or to fix any date for beginning the works.
asked what steps were taken by the London officials in the absence of formal reports from the supervising officers at Dublin to ascertain the qualifications of the Dublin unestablished porters performing the better class of work for promotion to the vacant storemen's appointments at Dublin; and whether it is a new departure to dispense with formal reports from supervising officers when comparing the qualifications of men serving in offices several hundreds of miles distant, and with whose capabilities the head of the department must be necessarily unacquainted?
In my answer to the Hon. Member on this subject on the 30th April last I explained the method of selection. I may add that the method was not a new departure in the Post Office.
Irish Post Office Mechanic Shops.
also asked the Postmaster-General what staff is employed in the Irish post office mechanic shops repairing telegraph and telephone apparatus, showing military and civilian employés separately; whether he can state, showing military and civilians separately, about how many men are likely to be employed when the recommendations of the Post Office Factories Committee come into force; and the number of men it is estimated would be employed if all telegraph and telephone apparatus used in Ireland were repaired in a Dublin factory?
The staff employed in the three mechanic shops in Ireland at present consists of seven military and three civilian employés. I am unable to state what numbers are likely to be employed when the recommendations of the Committee come into force, or what number of men would be required if all telegraph and telephone apparatus used in Ireland were repaired in a Dublin factory.
asked the Postmaster-General when the subsidiary repair shop, recommended by the Post Office Factories Committee, will be established in Dublin?
I am not yet in a position to fix a date.
Lee Navigation Wayleaves.
asked the Postmaster-General whether, having regard to the fact that there are in existence and in operation a number of agreements which were entered into between the Lee Conservancy Board and the National Telephone Company providing for the payment by the company of acknowledgements for way-leaves for telephone wires and poles on the Lee Navigation, he proposes to insist upon the right which he claims to possess to avoid such contracts and to treat such telephone wires and poles as coming within the definition of telegraphs; and whether he refused any longer to pay the agreed sums provided for in such contracts?
I am advised that the wayleave agreements made between the Lee Conservancy Board and the National Telephone Company are not binding upon me, and that the agreement of 1906 between the Board and the Post Office covers the wires which I have acquired from the company as if they had been erected by my officers in the first instance. It has been decided in the courts that a "telephone" is a "telegraph" within the meaning of the Telegraph Acts.
Bee Distemper.
asked the President of the Board of Agriculture whether, in view of the spreading of bee distemper throughout Great Britain and of the effects of that disease upon the bee-keeping industry, the Government will take immediate legislative action to proclaim areas infected by the disease, to regulate or prohibit the transport of bees and the appurtenances of bee-keeping within those districts or from those districts to uninfected districts, and for the compulsory destruction, when necessary, of bees and the appurtenances of bee-keeping in the infected districts, subject to fair compensation, in the same manner and upon the same terms as are provided in the Diseases of Animals Act, 1894, or any other Act for the purpose of suppressing or localising diseases of an infectious nature in animals or plants?
I hope shortly to introduce legislation on the lines suggested.
South Kensington Spirit Museum.
asked the hon. Member for St. George's-in-the-East, as representing the First Commissioner of Works, whether the building for the extension of the South Kensington Spirit Museum is to be placed in the Natural History Museum Gardens, facing Cromwell Road; and, if so, will he state the reasons why this particular site has been selected, and whether any other sites have been considered.
It has been proposed, and the proposal has been accepted by the Trustees of the British Museum to place the Spirit Museum in the Gardens facing Cromwell Road. This site has been selected because it is the most convenient for the purpose. Other sites have been considered, but have been abandoned as they would interfere with the future extension of the Natural History Museum.