asked the Secretary to the Treasury if he will state the titles or names and addresses of the residential institutions in which tuberculous cases can be treated or are now being treated, distinguishing between the sanatorium, the farm colony, and the open-air school?

As regards England, I give below a list of residential institutions in which tuberculous patients can be and are being treated; the list has been compiled from information furnished to the Local Government Board by medical officers of health of sanitary authorities throughout the country, in response to a circular issued by that Board in December last, supplemented by information obtained from the list published in November, 1911, by the National Association for the Prevention of Consumption. There are, of course, various general hospitals in the country which sometimes take tuberculous patients; I have not included these, nor any institutions maintained by boards of guardians.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether the National Sailors' and Firemen's Union has withdrawn its representatives from the com- mittee of management of the Seamen's National Insurance Society; and, if so, upon what grounds; and what steps he proposes to take in the matter?

I have received a copy of a resolution passed by the executive council of the union referred to, intimating that in view of the appointment of a representative of the British Seafarer's Union on the committee of management of the Seaman's National Insurance Society, the union would not take a part in the management of the society. I regret this decision, which seems to have been arrived at on very insufficient grounds, in view of the fact that two members of the committee have been appointed on the nomination of the National Sailors' and Firemen's Union. I should hope that on reconsideration the union will not maintain the attitude indicated in the resolution. Meantime I do not propose to take any steps beyond communicating with the committee of management.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that the National Sailors' and Firemen's Union, with 75,000 members, has become an approved society under the National Insurance Act; and whether, in order to facilitate arrangements which have been made for those seamen who have applied to become members of the Sailors' and Firemen's Union Approved Society, he will give facilities for a representative of the union being present at the Mercantile Marine office or on board ship at the time of discharge of the crews of foreign-going ships for the purpose of the collection of their cards?

I fear it is impracticable to give the facilities suggested, especially in view of the fact that there are other approved societies which admit seamen, and which would claim equal privileges. I will, however, consider whether there are any other means by which the wishes of the union could be met.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether a scheme for the constitution of the Seamen's National Insurance Society has been put in circulation; whether it provides for the appointment of seven representatives of the various classes of masters, seamen, and apprentices who are or may be members of the society as nearly as possible in proportion to their respective numbers; and whether, seeing that only two representatives were appointed to represent sailors and firemen, who constitute the greater proportion of the seafaring class, he will reconstitute the committee so as to ensure the proper representation of the various classes of seamen?

The scheme provided for in Sub-section (5) of Section 48 of the National Insurance Act, 1911, was approved by the National Health Insurance Joint Committee on 3rd July. It provides for the appointment of seven representatives of members of the society in the manner suggested. Three representatives, and not two, as stated in the question, were appointed to represent sailors and firemen, which appears to be as fair a representation as circumstances permit.

asked the President of the Board of Education whether he is aware that a meeting called to consider the advisability of ignoring the National Insurance Act at Uppingham, on Saturday, 13th July, was presided over by the head teacher of the national schools at Uppingham; whether a person obtaining the bulk of his wages from the public purse can be permitted to encourage a movement to resist the law; and whether he will communicate with the managers of the school with a view to action being taken to prevent the person in question from repeating such conduct?

The answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. By Article 15 of the Code it is provided that a teacher shall not be required to abstain, outside the school hours, from any occupation which do not interfere with the due performance of his duties as a teacher of a public elementary school. The meeting referred to was held outside school hours. I am, however, sending a copy of the question and my reply to the local education authority.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury whether, for the purposes of the National Insurance Act, a man who was born of English parents in the United States, in 1856, and brought by his parents in 1859 back to England, where he has lived since, is an English citizen?

Questions of nationality are almost impossible to answer with certainty, except on a very full statement of all the facts of the case, but if the hon. Member could send me further particulars I should be glad to have the case looked into.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury whether it is proposed to issue special insurance cards for seamen engaged in the home and foreign trades; and, if so, whether such cards can be obtained by approved societies and at the post offices?

Special cards have been prepared for seamen engaged in the foreign trade; those cards will be issued to the employés through the Mercantile Marine Offices, and not to approved societies and post offices. Seamen engaged in the home trade will use the ordinary employed contributors' cards, which they will obtain through their societies or the post office as the case may be. I have sent the hon. Member a copy of a pamphlet in which these arrangements are explained in detail.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury the cause of the delay in having fees paid to clerks of pension committees in the county of Galway; and if he is aware that no payments have been made for the quarter ended 31st March last?

I understand that the claim for the fees in question was not received by the Board of Customs and Excise until the end of May. The account was not complete when rendered and it was necessary to clear up certain discrepancies. No time will be lost in paying the fees due as soon as certain necessary inquiries are complete.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, having regard to the fact that the instalments payable under the Land Purchase Acts (Ireland) in respect to loans made to purchasers include sums payable both in respect of interest and principal, a sufficient sinking fund has been set up to provide for the repayment or cancellation of the Irish Land Stock which has been issued to provide for such loans; and upon what dates such repayment or cancellation will be made?

With regard to Stock issued under the Purchase of Land (Ireland) Act, 1891, I would refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the then Financial Secretary to the Treasury to a question by the hon. Member for Great Yarmouth on the 14th August, 1911. A sufficient sinking fund has been set up in respect of the Stocks issued under the Irish Land Acts of 1903 and 1909 to redeem such Stock within the periods prescribed by those Acts. It is not, however, possible to state any precise dates for the repayment or cancellation of those Stocks or any part of them, as in accordance with the provisions of the Acts the sinking fund is allowed to be and has in fact to a considerable extent been devoted to the making of further advances under the Acts.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland on what grounds Mary Diggin, Mountain Stage, Glenbeigh, has been deprived of the old age pension for which she applied, in view of the fact that full particulars of her family were furnished as well as the date of her own marriage; and whether she is to be deprived of her pension on the ground that her age could not be found in the Census Returns?

This woman's claim for pension was disallowed by the Local Government Board as the particulars furnished, including a certificate showing that she was married in the year 1869, were not sufficient to establish that she had reached the statutory age. The reply to the second paragraph of the question is in the negative.

asked whether the Local Government Board for Ireland received a letter in September, 1911, from Mr. Patrick Brett, cap manufacturer, Mullingar, complaining of the conduct of Mr. John T. Roche, secretary of Westmeath County Council, in connection with the tenancy of the council's premises occupied by the factory, and asking a sworn inquiry to be held into the allegations; if the Board communicated with the council on the subject; why their communication was not submitted to a quorum of that body; on what date it is alleged to have been submitted; how many members are alleged to have been present at the time; what order was reported to the Board as having been made; whether the Board are aware of the cost put upon Westmeath at the instance of Mr. Roche in attempts to evict Mr. Brett and to recover rent from him for a time for which the council itself had used the premises as a technical school; whether the Board are aware that a letter, addressed by Mr. Brett to the presiding chairman and handed in,at the council meeting on the 21st May last, was intercepted and opened by Mr. Roche and not allowed to reach the chairman or the council; and when the Board propose to have these matters investigated?

The reply to the first paragraph of the question is in the affirmative. The. Local Government Board did not communicate with the county council, as the matter referred to by Mr. Brett in his letter appeared to be entirely one between him and the county council, and as to which the Board were not entitled to make investigations. The Board have no information as regards the remainder of the question.

asked why a meeting recently called at Ruan, county Clare, to consider the land question was interfered with by the police authorities?

The constabulary authorities inform me that it was proposed to hold a meeting at Ruan on the 7th instant to protest against the action of a local landlord in regard to the treatment of his tenants. The Government decided that no meeting of an intimidatory character should be permitted at or in the immediate vicinity of Ruan. A meeting was held some distance away, and was not interfered with.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he can see his way to remove the 1,570 pensioners from the Seamen Pensioners Reserve, now being paid their 5d. a day augmentation from Greenwich Hospital charitable funds, to Navy Votes, and so pay the 5d. a day augmentation to 1,570 of the other 1,650 naval pensioners over sixty years of age who are eligible?

As I informed the Noble Lord on 15th May last, a considerable relief has been afforded to Greenwich Hospital funds by the decision that the charge for age pensions to men of the Seamen Pensioner Reserve reaching the age of fifty-five subsequently to the 1st April, 1910, should continue to be borne by Navy Votes until such time as they would receive the pension from Greenwich Hospital funds in the ordinary course of selection, and I am not prepared to recommend further relief by the transfer to Navy Votes of the pensions which were awarded before that date. It must be remembered, moreover, that a proportion of the 1,570 men would no doubt in any case already have received the pension from Greenwich Hospital funds even under the new rule.

asked the Secretary of State for War if men who served in British regiments in repelling the Fenian raids in Canada are entitled to the grant of 100 dollars granted by the Canadian Government; and, if so, to whom should application be made by those concerned?

A Canadian Act of this year "to authorise a bounty to Volunteers who served the Crown during the Fenian Raids" empowers the Governor in Council to grant 100 dollars to every Volunteer living at the time of the passing of the Act, which confines the Grant to Canadian Militia Corps. It does not extend to officers and men of the Regular Army.

asked the Secretary of State for War whether he has taken into consideration the advisability or otherwise of appointing Indian officers to Indian regiments; and, if so, whether he proposes to take any action?

The matter has frequently been under consideration by successive Secretaries of State. No scheme has as yet been proposed which it has been found possible to make operative.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he can give the House any information regarding cattle disease known as east coast fever, which prevails in parts of the Nyasaland Protectorate?

I have no information on the subject, but I will make inquiry.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for India whether the money proposed to be spent on primary education in India is to be spent solely on the education of male children; and, if so, will he say why this preference is to be given?

No, Sir. £33,000 of the additional Grant is to be spent on female education, mainly the primary education of girls.

asked the Prime Minister whether he is aware that certain ships have been lying for weeks in Tilbury Docks waiting to be unloaded; whether the delay, causing loss to the merchants with goods on board, is due to the reluctance of men to work in the docks owing to intimidation practised outside; and what steps the Government are taking in the matter?

The Prime Minister has asked me to answer this question, I believe it is the case that ships have been lying in Tilbury Docks for some weeks waiting to unload. The delay is caused by the refusal to work of the men ordinarily employed in the docks, but their refusal to work is due, I am satisfied, mainly to a determination to carry on the strike. There has undoubtedly been some intimidation, but a large number of men are working under adequate police protection.

asked the President of the Board of Trade when the Government publication on Gambling Operations in Futures and Options and on Trusts will be issued, as promised in May and June, 1911?

:I hope to be able to issue this Return in about two months' time.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether the Registrar-General of Shipping and Seamen has been appointed a member of the Derelicts Committee; whether, having regard to other calls upon his time, he will be able to serve with efficiency upon the Committee; and, if so, whether his services would be more usefully employed on the committee of management of the Seamen's National Insurance Society in place of Sir A. G. Chalmers, an ex-nautical expert of the Board of Trade, whose talents might be of more utility on the Derelicts Committee?

The answer to the first two parts of the question is in the affirmative, and to the third part in the negative.

asked the Postmaster-General whether no vacancies have been filled in the Stores Department during the past three years, the official explanation being that a revision was under consideration; and whether any such revision has been made or is contemplated?

Certain vacancies in the Stores Department were held over as the hon. Member has been led to understand, pending a revision consequent on the removal of a portion of the Department to other premises. The revision has now been carried out, and the staff adjusted to the requirements of the work.

asked the Postmaster-General whether he is aware that storemen in the Post Office have had their supply of uniform overcoats withdrawn; and whether, in view of the fact that the value of the overcoats would be reckoned as part of their remuneration, he will authorise payment to the men concerned of something in lieu?

The officers in question are employed wholly or mainly upon indoor duty, and have thus no occasion for uniform overcoats. I cannot undertake to compensate them because uniform for which they have no need is not now issued to them.

asked the Postmaster-General for how long the negotiations with regard to the new Gillingham (Dorset) Post Office have been going on; whether he is aware that the plans have been practically approved for twelve months, and that tenders have been accepted by the owner of the site for nearly six months; and, seeing that in spite of the fact that the Post Office surveyor at Portsmouth stated last February that the matter would be expedited as much as possible, and was then before headquarters, nothing has been yet commenced, whether he will take steps to expedite the erection of this office?

It is true that the negotiations for the provision of a new office at Gillingham (Dorset) have BOW been in hand for a considerable time, but owing to difficulties in connection with the site, the high cost of the building, and modifications of terms required by the lessor delay has been inevitable. The scheme has now, however, been laid before the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, and, if it is sanctioned, building operations will, it is hoped, be put in hand at an early date.

asked the President of the Board of Agriculture how many complete farms have been purchased for small holdings by each of the following county councils, namely, those for Cambridgeshire, Somersetshire, Wiltshire, and Oxfordshire?

I am informed by the respective county councils that the number of complete farms purchased for small holdings in the counties named is as follows:—Eleven in Cambridgeshire, twenty-eight in Somersetshire, thirteen in Wiltshire, and three in Oxfordshire.