asked the Secretary to the Treasury whether, under the National Insurance Act, when a person earns his income from more than one source, his total earned income from all sources is to be reckoned in order to ascertain whether he comes above the £160 limit; if so, what procedure must each of his employers adopt to ascertain what his total income is; and which employer must pay the employer's contribution?

The answer to the first question is in the negative. Where a person is employed in whole-time service, the rate of his remuneration in that employment is alone to be looked at, and it is immaterial that he is during any of his spare time engaged in some other employment which is within the Act.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury how many appointments have been made by the English Insurance Commissioners, at a salary of £500 a year and upwards, from persons outside the Civil Service; and will he publish the names and offices of such persons and the method by which they were selected?

A principal medical officer, the legal assistant, and the late private secretary of the chairman of the English Commission have been appointed without previous Civil Service experience at the salary of £500 a year and upwards. Each of these posts (having regard both to its duties and the time at which it had to be filled), required special qualifications, and the selection was carefully made with reference to these qualifications.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps have been taken to enable Irish migratory labourers to obtain, should they desire so to do, certificates of exemption under Section 81 (3) of the National Insurance Act?

Forms of application for these certificates may be obtained from post offices and from officers of Customs and Excise (who are usually the pension officers) throughout Ireland, and in those districts in England and Scotland in which Irish migratory labourers are chiefly employed.

asked the Presi-dent of the Board of Trade how many of the positions created under the National Insurance Act during the present year have been allocated to existing Civil Servants; the nature of the appointments; the rank and sex of the officers who have been chosen to receive them; and the Department to which they have been previously attached; whether all the appointments necessary to the working of the National Insurance Act have now been allocated; and, if not, will he state the number which still remain open and the proportion which it is intended to give to existing Civil Servants?

The following appointments under Part II. of the National In

Some further appointments will probably be necessary, and I propose to offer them to existing Civil Servants wherever

surance Act have been allotted to existing Civil Servants:—

practicable, but it is not possible to fix in advance the exact proportion of such appointments which will be so filled.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether the Insurance Commissioners have received complaints from Sheffield that insurance cards are being refused, or issued in quite insufficient numbers, to those applying on behalf of works societies duly constituted under the Commissioners' model rules; while cards are being issued preferentially and without limit to applicants from certain approved societies; and whether it is the intention, as well as the probable effect, of this unfair discrimination to force workmen to join societies belonging to a limited list approved by the Commissioners and not spontaneously chosen by the workmen themselves; and whether instructions will be given that cards shall be issued without discrimination to applicants in time for the first weekly pay-day after 15th July?

I am not aware that cards have in any case been issued in insufficient numbers, and certainly there is absolutely no preferential treatment as between different approved societies. If the hon. Member will give me the names of actual societies which consider they have had insufficient supplies I will at once inquire into the matter.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury whether payments must be made for insurance by those who will attain the age of seventy before 1st January, 1913, in view of the fact that they cannot receive any benefits?

The hon. Member is misinformed as to the position of persons of this age. If they are liable to pay contributions in the period between 15th July and the date of their seventieth birthday they will not be disqualified from receiving benefit after that date. Their position is fully explained in Circular A.S. 29, of which I am sending a copy to the hon. Member. As I stated in answer to the hon. and gallant Member for West Hampshire on the 4th July, if the man's society adopts the scheme suggested on the first page of Circular A.S. 29 such a person would receive sick pay after the expiration of six months at the rate of 6s. for the first thirteen weeks (and 5s. for subsequent weeks) of illness for as many weeks as contributions had been paid by or in respect of him, notwithstanding that he would then be over seventy years of age.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury whether he will lay upon the Table of the House a copy of the opinion which the Commissioners of Kingstown Harbour have obtained to the effect that Section 3, of 6 and 7 Will. IV., c. 117, has not been repealed by 1 and 2 Vic., c. 36, nor by the Dublin Port Act, 1869, whereby the masters of passenger vessels have a right to commute dues in Kingstown Harbour; and whether he will explain why it was that this right of commutation was never exercised by masters of passenger vessels until November, 1910, and that up to the 1st of that month passenger vessels were charged 5s. per trip in accordance with the schedule of dues published up to that date by the Commissioners of Kingstown Harbour?

The legal opinion to which the hon. Member refers was in the words embodied in the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Dublin South on the 18th ultimo. I am not aware why masters of vessels did not apply before November, 1910, for the commutation of dues to which they were entitled.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he can state what rebate German and foreign manufacturers of cocoa and chocolate are entitled to when exporting cocoa and chocolate to the Isle of Man, and whether British manufacturers exporting cocoa and chocolate to the Isle of Man are entitled to any rebate on the duties they have paid on the cocoa; and, if there no such rebate in this case, whether he can see his way to introduce legislation placing British manufacturers of cocoa and chocolate on terms of equality with foreign competitors in the Isle of Man?

I am not aware what rebate or drawback is allowed by France or Germany in the case referred to. Drawback is allowed by this country on cocoa goods of British manufacture removed from the United Kingdom to the Isle of Man in respect of the sugar, if any used, but not in respect of the cocoa. It has not been represented to me that British manufacturers are under any disability which calls for legislation.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer will he state the precise amount of Guaranteed Two and Three-quarter per Cent. Irish Land Stock to pay the dividend on which the sum of £656,894 13s. 8d. was issued to the Bank of England on Saturday, 29th June, last; what was the amount of Income Tax ascertained and paid on that dividend; and how and by whom, and on what date, was that tax paid to the Exchequer?

The amount of Guaranteed 2¾ per Cent. Stock was £47,774,159 1s. 1d. The amount of Income Tax deducted was £14,242 13s. 9d. This sum, less a sum of £52 10s. 8d., which has been the subject of an action brought against the Bank of England by Mr. T. G. Bowles, was paid to the Exchequer by the bank on the order of the Commissioners of Inland Revenue on 3rd July.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will state what is the reason for the delay in publishing the first Report of evidence given before the Committee on Local and Imperial Taxation, which was originally promised by the end of March and which was in proof some weeks ago?

The Report was laid yesterday, and will, I hope, be issued in a few days. I regret the delay, which is due to the causes stated in the answer given to the hon. and learned Member on the 21st May.

asked the Chief Secretary how many old age pensions granted by the Pension Committees in Ireland from 1st October, 1908 to 31st March, 1912, were subsequently disallowed by the Irish Local Government Board?

The total number of appeals by claimants, pensioners, and pension officers considered by the Local Government Board up to the 30th March, 1912, was 55,207. As a result of these appeals 40,351 claims were disallowed, 10,830 were allowed, while 4,026 appeals were dismissed as "late." Without examining each entry in the Register, it would be impossible to give the number of cases of old age pensions granted by Pension Committees and subsequently disallowed by the Local Government Board.

asked the Chief Secretary whether any representations have reached him or any Government Department on the insufficiency of funds for primary and intermediate education in Ireland and the necessity for increasing the provision in the Government of Ireland Bill; whether they are made in the interest of education and well-founded in the facts as compared with the provision for similar purposes in Great Britain; and whether he is prepared to put down or accept an Amendment to the Bill of the nature indicated?

I have received many representations on the subject. While the difference of systems in Great Britain and Ireland makes an accurate comparison almost impossible, I am always anxious to get as much money as possible for Irish education. The difficulty arises from the many calls on the Public Purse and does not depend on legislation.

asked whether there is on record any expression of satisfaction or of dissatisfaction by the Commissioners of National Education in Ireland with the scale of pay and pension which deprives them of the services of the best teachers who are not bound by domestic ties to submit to that treatment.

Many such expressions have appeared from time to time in the Reports of the Commissioners of National Education. The hon. Member is no doubt aware that an additional £25,000 is provided in the Estimates for the current year for teachers' pensions in Ireland.

asked the Chief Secretary if his attention has been further called to the disturbances at Belfast and to the inactivity of the local authorities; is he aware that members of British trade unions who have been working in the shipyards are being intimidated, and are leaving their work and causing expense to the unions in paying them unemployment benefit; and can he take any steps to induce the local authorities to afford adequate protection, or otherwise direct that such protection should be given by the forces of the Crown?

Ten Roman Catholics and one Protestant supposed to be friendly to Roman Catholics, were assaulted in the shipyards of Belfast between the 2nd and 5th of this month. One of these assaults was of a very serious nature, and the victim is still in a critical state. As a consequence of these assaults 2,009 men have left work, and I understand that practically all are being paid from trade union funds. Every effort has been made, and is being made, by the police to protect life and property and to bring to justice persons guilty of assaults; but the yards are private property, policed by the harbour police, who are in the employment of the Harbour Commissioners and not by the Royal Irish Constabulary. I am advised that to send the Constabulary into these yards would be useless and provocative, and while further protection could no doubt be afforded by employing the military outside the yards this would be a very serious step to take, and might easily have the effect of precipitating more serious disturbance and make the restoration of peace impossible. Everything has now been quiet in the yards for some days, and as the annual holidays begin to-morrow, when the yards close for ten days, without being too sanguine, it may be hoped that the trouble is at an end for the present.

asked the Chief Secretary what progress has been made with the purchase of the Fuller estate, near Cahirciveen, in view of the fact that the agent undertook to lodge the necessary documents before the end of June?

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given to his question on this subject on the 4th March last. The Congested Districts Board are not aware of any undertaking having been given by the agent to lodge the documents before the end of June.

asked whether the Congested Districts Board are dealing with the Neptune Blood estate, county Clare; and, if so, when the proceedings are likely to be completed?

This estate has been purchased by the Congested Districts Board, and will be resold to the tenants as soon as possible.

asked whether the assistant revising barristers annually appointed in Ireland under the Revising Barristers Act of 1886, have power to arrange for the distribution of the business of the revision between them with the chairman or revising barrister in the county or borough; whether the assistant revising barristers so appointed under that Act have an equal voice in the arrangement; and whether any steps will be taken to see that the duty cast upon these officials by the Statute will be duly carried out, and that the clerks of the peace will be informed of the arrangments so made in order that due public notice may be given by them of the holding of the various Courts of Revision?

I am advised that the Act referred to does not define the powers of the County Court judge and his assistants as regards the distribution of the business of revision, but merely enacts that they shall arrange the matter between them. So far as the Government is concerned all necessary steps to ensure compliance with the provisions of the Registration Acts will be taken as heretofore.

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland how the million Grant for the Labourers Acts is to be allocated; why are councils who have been heretofore desirous of working these Acts now handicapped by reason of the refusal of the Local Government Board to grant them a share of the money voted last year; have applications been received from the Kilmallock, Limerick, and Tipperary (No. 2), as well as Croom and Mitchelstown (No. 2) Councils for Grants to build houses; will their request be acceded to; and, in view of the number of poor people yet unhoused in those districts and the amount of incidental expenses incurred in connection with the putting forward of schemes, will some steps be taken to give them a share of that sum passed last year in this House?

As regards the first paragraph of the question I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given to his question on this subject on the 29th February last. The Rural Districts of Kilmallock, Croom, and Mitchelstown (No. 2) have submitted new schemes for approval, but none have yet been received from Limerick and Tipperary (No. 2) Rural Districts. The Local Government Board have not refused to grant these councils a share of the money as stated in the question; they have merely declined to give these districts precedence over other districts where the need for additional labourers' cottages is comparatively greater.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland what was the total expenditure in the last financial year on reformatory schools conducted by Roman Catholic communities, reformatory schools conducted by Protestant committees, industrial schools conducted by Roman Catholic communities, and industrial schools conducted by Protestant committees, respectively; how much of the expenditure in each case was contributed from Parliamentary Grants and how much from the rates; what was the entire expenditure on the administration of these schools; how and by whom are the accounts of these schools audited; what means are taken to see that Grants are not diverted to purposes other than those for which they are made; and have any complaints been made as to inmates of these institutions not being sufficiently fed, clothed, and otherwise cared for?

The following Return shows the number of Roman Catholic and Protestant Reformatory and Industrial Schools, the total expenditure on each class of school, the amount contributed from Parliamentary Grants and from the rates respectively, and the expenditure on administration during the year ended 31st December, 1911:—

The accounts dealing with the Treasury Grants are regularly examined and checked in the office of the Inspectors of Reformatory and Industrial Schools, and periodically audited by the Comptroller and Auditor-General. A detailed statement of receipts and payments in the case of each school is annually furnished to the inspectors. Every reformatory and industrial school is visited by the inspectors, who see

that Parliamentary Grants are expended satisfactorily on the food, clothing, and education of the children. No complaint has reached the inspectors during the year as to the children not being sufficiently fed, clothed, or otherwise cared for.

asked the Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture (Ireland) if any agreement has yet been come to between the various conflicting parties in Ireland on the contentious Clauses in the Butter Bill; and, if so, will it be carried into law during this Session of Parliament?

The Irish Creameries and Dairy Produce Bill, which passed its Second Reading in the House of Lords on the 11th June, is, as regards its main features, in substantial agreement with the views expressed by the Irish Butter Trade Association, the Irish Creamery Managers' Association, and the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society. All sections of the trade in Ireland appear to be satisfied as to the advantages to be conferred by the Bill. Representations for its modifications have been submitted by the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society, who desire the amendment of some Clauses of the Bill. With a view to meeting some of the points raised by the society certain Amendments will be proposed on behalf of the Government at the Committee stage of the Bill in the House of Lords. It is hoped to take the Committee stage in the House of Lords before the end of the present month, and,

if at all possible, to have the Bill in the House of Commons before the House adjourns for the Summer Recess.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether, in the case of complaints from trade union officials or others with reference to wages paid by Government contractors, the complainants are required to show that good grounds exist for their complaints before time and money is spent upon investigation; and whether, in the event of such complaints being shown to be unfounded or vexatious, any steps are taken against the complainant or to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents?

In most cases the complaints received have shown sufficient ground to justify investigation; but if the information given is, prima facie, insufficient, action is deferred till further particulars are forthcoming. So far as my experience of these complaints goes, and practically all of them pass through my hands, they have been made in good faith.

asked the Secretary to the Admiralty whether he is aware that representatives of building societies are in the habit of touting for business on board of His Majesty's ships among men of the Royal Navy; whether such touting is by the permission of any person or authority and, in this event, whether access to His Majesty's ships for this purpose is permitted to representatives of all such societies or is restricted to the representatives of bond fide societies only; and whether he will consider the advisability, so long as access to His Majesty's ships is permitted to insurance agents, of taking steps to protect the men from the misrepresentations of those agents?

An Order was issued in November last directing that after an interval of six months no traders should be allowed on board His Majesty's ships. The time was subsequently extended to 31st October next, in order that tradesmen who have enjoyed the privilege in the past may have an opportunity of working off their stocks. I have no information as to the representatives of building societies canvassing for business on board ship. Insurance agents come within the general Order to which I have already referred.

asked the Secretary of State for War whether he has received any representations as to the inadequacy of the present Grant of 1s. per head in respect of the National Reserve; whether he is aware that in many cases officers of the National Reserve have had to provide money in order to meet the necessary office expenses of their battalions; and whether he is prepared to recommend such an increase in the amount of the Grant as will provide for the necessary expenses of maintenance and organization?

Representations have been received on this subject, but I am not yet in a position to make a statement.

asked the Secretary of State for War whether a decision as to the increase of pay in the case of leading hands in the Army Ordnance store at Colchester which was being considered on the 5th March last has yet been given?

Yes, Sir. On the 28th June the General Officer Commanding concerned was informed that he had power to pay leading hands at his discretion up to 20s. 6d.

asked the Secretary of State for War whether the garrison of Egypt has a strength of about 6,000 men and has, besides garrisoning Egypt, to hold Cyprus and the Soudan; and, if so, whether, in view of the acquisition of Tobruk by a Power which is a member of the Triple Alliance, of the unsettled state of the Levant, and of the strategic changes which have occurred in late years in Syria, Asia Minor, and Northern Africa, it is proposed to increase the Egyptian garrison to a strength suitable to the responsibilities of Great Britain upon the route to India and in the Mediterranean?

The matters referred to cannot be discussed with advantage before the statement of policy to be made in the House next week.

asked the President of the Board of Education whether the terms of reference to the Departmental Committee set up to inquire into teachers' pensions will allow the case of teachers now retired on inadequate pensions to be considered; and, if not, will he consider the desirability of extending the scope of the inquiry to make this possible?

The answer to the. first part of the question is in the affirmative. The second part of the question does not, herefore, arise.