asked the President of the Board of Trade if stoppage of work owing to frost or other weather conditions will be considered as unemployment under the National Insurance Act?

Speaking generally, the answer is in the affirmative; but, of course, the workman must comply with the statutory condition that he is unable to obtain suitable employment, and he must be prepared to take such employment as is available.

asked the Chief Secretary if he is aware that the tenants on the Bell estate, near Crossmaglen, county Armagh, signed agreements to purchase their holdings five and a-half years ago, and that no further steps have since been taken in the matter; and if he can say when money can be advanced to complete the purchase?

The hon. Member presumably refers to the estate of the trustees of Thomas P. Ball, county Armagh. This estate is the subject of proceedings for sale direct by the landlord to the tenants under the Irish Land Act, 1903. The purchase agreements were lodged in July, 1907, and the estate will be dealt with in order of priority on the principal register of direct sales (all cash), but the Commissioners are not at present in a position to say when it will be reached.

asked why the Local Government Board have not yet held the necessary inquiry under the Labourers Acts with reference to a scheme formulated by the Glenties Rural District Council in December, 1911, and forwarded to the Board on 4th May, 1912; and when it is proposed to hold such inquiry?

asked what is the procedure usually followed by the Local Government Board in respect of the holding of local inquiries under the Labourers Acts; whether schemes are dealt with in the order in which they are received; and whether the scheme of the Glenties Rural District Council, formulated in December, 1911, has been so treated?

I will answer these two questions together. In view of the limited fund provided for the erection of labourers' cottages by the Act of 1911, the order in which inquiries are held is not being regulated by the date of the receipt of the schemes by the Local Government Board, but by the needs of the different districts for additional house accommodation, having regard to the number of labourers' cottages already provided in each district and the number of agricultural labourers in the district. The Board hope to be able to appoint an inspector, to hold an inquiry into the scheme for Glenties Rural District at an early date.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty what is the programme of the Government as regards a flagship for the China and East India unit; whether The New Zealand "Dreadnought" is to take a permanent place in the North Sea Fleet; whether the programme of 1900 has, as regards the East India unit, been completely abandoned; and whether the Australian Fleet alone is in future to maintain the British position in the Pacific?

Both the China and East Indian squadrons are already provided with flagships, and no change is at present contemplated. The "New Zealand" will join the first battle cruiser squadron on her return from New Zealand ports in the summer of 1913. I have no further information to give on this subject. The answers to the third and fourth parts of the question are in the negative.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if the regulations of the Home Office require a manager, under-manager, or other underground official of a coal mine to hold a fireman's certificate, in addition to a first or second class certificate of competency under the Coal Mines Act, 1911, before inspecting a working place and giving permission to a miner to enter it to begin his shift, in the temporary absence of the certified fireman?

The matter is regulated by the Coal Mines Act. Section 64 of the Act requires that the examination before the commencement of a shift must be made by a person who has been appointed to be a fireman, examiner, or deputy; and Section 15 provides that after 1st January next no person can be appointed to be a fireman, examiner, or deputy unless he holds a fireman's certificate under Sub-section (1) (b) of that Section. Unless the person making the examination is required to hold such a certificate, there would be no guarantee that his eyesight, for instance, was such as to enable him to make accurate tests for fire damp. I may add that in future under the rules, which have been made with my approval by the Board for Mining Examinations, all applicants for managers' or under-managers' certificates will be required to have obtained a fireman's certificate.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for India whether the Government of Madras propose to abandon the Attur Ghaut road, which cost upwards of £12,000 and serves several valuable plantations, whose owners and labourers are thereby prejudiced?

The Secretary of State has no information on this matter. It is open to persons who may feel themselves prejudiced by any action that the Madras Government may have taken to make representations to the local government in the matter.

asked the President of the Local Government Board why the disease of small-pox is not made the subject of an international table, similar to Tables XXIV. to XXIX. in the Registrar-General's Annual Summary for the year 1911, and Tables LXXIV. to LXXX. in the Registrar-General's Seventy-Third Annual Report for 1910; and whether he will give instructions for such international tables relating to small-pox to be included in future Reports?

The Registrar-General has not thought it necessary to include rates for small-pox in the international tables of death rates from the chief zymotic diseases which are given in his Annual Report and in the Annual Summary, in view of the fact that in most, countries and towns there have been so few deaths from this disease. The exact numbers of deaths from small-pox are given in the above-Reports.

asked the Secretary to the Board of Trade whether he has seen the resolution passed by the Dublin Trades Council protesting against the delay in commencing the buildings for the accommodation of the Labour Bureaux of that city; whether any steps have been taken to put the matter in hand; and whether he is aware that the present offices are unsuitable for the work of the Exchange owing to their congestion, and that private offices have had to be taken in private houses in other parts of the city to house some of the officers of the Exchange?

I have not yet seen the resolution referred to. As I have already informed the House, plans for the building have been completed, but I regret to say that the negotiations with the landlord who was to erect the building have not yet been concluded. In view of the additional work entailed by the administration of Part II. of the National Insurance Act it has been necessary to take offices in another part of the town to house the divisional office staff. This is, however, a temporary arrangement which will be terminated as soon as the proposed building is ready.

asked the Postmaster-General whether any Report on the question of the best system of wireless telegraphy to adopt for the Imperial wireless scheme has ever been called for by him from the Engineer-in-Chief of the Post Office; and, if so, if he will lay the Report upon the Table of the House?

asked the Postmaster-General whether, for the general information of Members, he will lay before the House definite statistics showing in detail the best actual performances by the rival wireless companies with which he has been and is negotiating, showing, over fixed periods of time, the numbers of words transmitted, the speeds at which they were sent, indicating also whether these data were compiled in the day or at night, and giving in all cases the maximum distances over which one transmission sufficed and the latitude and longitude in which they were carried out?

As lion. Members are aware, a Select Committee is about to be appointed to consider the whole question of the proposed contract with the Marconi Company. The examination of the contract will necessarily raise a number of technical points, and I am of opinion that it will be better for me to lay the whole of the relevant Papers before that Committee rather than to present particular Papers to the House. Probably that course will best meet the wishes of the House itself. Some of the Papers in question are in any case of a confidential character, but all are now being printed for the information of the Committee.

asked the Postmaster-General if his attention has been drawn to the complaint made by a resident of Ballymore, county Westmeath, to the Post Office authorities, namely, that he addresed a letter, giving the name in Irish, to an Irish-speaking friend in Achill, county Mayo, which was returned to him from the Moate Post Office; and whether, in view of the fact that the address was written in English, the letter should have been forwarded to Achill, Mayo, where, owing to the fact that Irish is largely spoken, no difficulty would have been experienced in deciphering the address or delivering the letter?

No, Sir. But I will make inquiry and will communicate the result to the hon. Member.

asked the Postmaster-General if he will arrange to keep open the telegraph office at Rathnure, county Wexford?

It is not proposed to close the telegraph office at Rathnure. The revenue earned, however, is only about half the cost of maintaining the office, and a renewal of the guarantee, which recently expired, has been asked for. I understand that the guarantors are willing to renew the guarantee.

asked the Postmaster-General under what circumstances the selection of telegraphists to the senior positions are made in the Liverpool district; and whether he is aware of the representations which have been made to his permanent officials in reference to the supersessing of a number of senior officials by juniors?

The selection of telegraphists at Liverpool for promotion to higher appointments is made solely with a view to the efficiency of the service. I am aware of the representations made by officers who have been passed over, but I am satisfied in each case that the officer was selected for advancement on account of his possessing the best qualifications for the higher duties.

asked the Postmaster-General whether he is aware that inconvenience has been caused to the public through the closing of the Beattock Post Office on Wednesday afternoons; and whether he can make arrangements for the sale of stamps and postal orders, etc., and the transmission of telegrams at this post office in future on Wednesday afternoons?

The business formerly done at Beattock Post Office on Wednesday afternoons was very small, and, as the shopkeepers at Beattock close early on that day, I do not think that much inconvenience results from the weekly half-holiday at the post office, which has j been in force since August, 1911. Tele-grams for Beattock are delivered on Wednesday afternoons from Moffat (two miles, distant) without extra charge. The practice of allowing rural post offices to close early on one day a week, which was introduced upon the recommendation of the Parliamentary Committee on Post Office Servants of 1907, is in force at many post offices throughout the United Kingdom.