asked the Secretary to the Treasury if he will consider whether, as regards the first quarter's National Health Insurance cards, he can do anything to meet the convenience of a society which has an insured member who was resident in one part of the United Kingdom on entering into insurance, but removed to another part of the United Kingdom before his card is sent up to the Commissioners; and whether he can, for instance, allow that society to send the card to the Commissioners for that part of the United Kingdom in which the member has become resident, having regard to the fact that the contributions must ultimately be credited to, and the benefits paid from, the insurance fund administered by these Commissioners, and not from the fund for the country in which he was originally resident?

In the case of "international" societies the several bodies of Commissioners are prepared, as regards the first quarter, to allow credit for cards of insured persons who have definitely moved their residence to their respective areas before the time when the cards are sent up, and such societies should, therefore, send the cards of members who have changed their country of residence between 15th July and the time of sending up the first quarter's card to the Commissioners for that part of the United Kingdom in which the member is resident when the card is sent up, and should treat the member in their books as having been so resident during the quarter. No transfer from one set of books to the other will then be necessary.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the system of payment for work done, under which domiciliary treatment of tuberculosis was undertaken by the British Medical Association, is affected by the arrangements announced by him in his speech to the Advisory Committee; whether the system of capitation payment is to be substituted; and, if so, whether the capitation payment per insured person will cover the domiciliary treatment of tuberculous dependants?

The temporary arrangements made between the insurance committees and the doctors in certain areas, to which I understand the hon. Member to refer, will not be affected during the period ending 14th January. The answer to the third part of the question is in the negative.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury whether he is now in a position to give the names and numbers of the inspectors and assistant-inspectors appointed by the Insurance Commission for England; what was the number of applicants; what positions did the successful ones hold previous to their appointment; and to what districts have they been assigned?

I beg to refer the hon. and gallant Member to the reply I gave to the hon. and gallant Member for Southport yesterday.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland the source of the seed lymph used for obtaining supplies of vaccine at the National Vaccine Institute, Sandymount Green; and whether special precautions are adopted to prevent the introduction from abroad of seed lymph containing the virus of infectious diseases, such as rinderpest or foot-and-mouth disease?

The seed lymph used in the National Vaccine Institute is only obtained at long intervals from the Imperial German Vaccine Laboratories in Berlin, which are under the control of the Imperial German Public Health Office, and the operations of which are conducted with the strictest regard to modern public health requirements. The lymph so obtained is passed through a series of calves and is then subjected to the severest possible test as regards the diseases mention in the question. No disease save vaccinia has ever been produced by the inoculation of the lymph, and additional precautions would therefore appear to be unnecessary.

asked the President of the Local Government Board whether special precautions are taken to prevent the introduction into this country from abroad of lymph containing the virus of rinderpest or of foot-and-mouth disease?

The precautions taken at the Government lymph establishment in regard to the use of imported lymph are of a most stringent character.

asked the names, addresses, and descriptions of the persons who have been appointed to the commission of the peace for the county of Kerry since the 1st November last year?

The information asked for will be included in the Return to be presented in continuation of Parliamentary Paper No. 306, of Session 1911, ordered on the 21st October last, and which is now in course of preparation. I would ask the hon. Member to await the issue of the Return.

asked the exact offences for which Mr. Eugene O'Sullivan, J.P., of Killarney, county Kerry, was reported by an Election Court; the exact offences for which he was prosecuted by the Crown before the magistrates at Killarney Petty Sessions; and with what result?

The election judges reported Mr. Eugene O'Sullivan guilty of the corrupt practices of undue influence and intimidation by his agents with his knowledge and consent, but they did not find him guilty personally of such corrupt practices. Mr. O'Sullivan was prosecuted for corrupt practices (undue influence) at Killarney Petty Sessions in August, 1910, when informations were refused by a majority of the bench.

asked the Chief Secretary whether his attention has been drawn to the statement of the resident magistrate presiding at Blarney Petty Sessions recently to the effect that tenants of labourers' cottages, holding under the Labourers (Ireland) Acts, had no security in their tenancies and could be dispossessed at the will of the district council whether their rents were paid or not; and whether, seeing that this statement has created a feeling of dismay amongst tenants who believed they could not be disturbed in their tenancies whilst they paid their rents, he proposes to take legislative action to secure fixity of tenure to all occupiers of labourers' cottages?

The agreements signed by the tenants of labourers' cottages expressly provide that their tenancies can be determined at any time if the district council should see fit to do so. There is no necessity for an alteration of the law in this respect. The present system has worked quite smoothly, and it is most unlikely that the local bodies will act harshly so long as the tenants pay their rents and observe their agreements.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that official evidence was tendered by the Home Office and the Lord Chamberlain's Department to the Joint Committee on Stage Plays, stating that the present system of censorship as it works with regard to plays could not be applied with regard to music halls, and that the Lord Chamberlain ignored the music halls; whether, in view of this, he can explain why the Lord Chamberlain intervened in respect of a wordless play at the Palace Theatre before its production; under what Statute he was acting; and in what manner the Lord Chamberlain and his advisory committee were enabled to judge of the character of a wordless play before it was publicly presented?

The official witnesses before the Select Committee, while sug- gesting the need for a censorship at music halls, pointed out the practical difficulties of an extension of the existing system. Music halls were not, at the time the evidence was given, licensed by the Lord Chamberlain, and were consequently outside his jurisdiction; but an arrangement has recently been made by which the managers of music halls obtain from the Lord Chamberlain or the London County Council, as the case may be, licences as theatres under the Theatres Act, 1843. In the case of the play now in question, I am informed that the Lord Chamberlain judged of its character from the synopsis submitted to him and from the report of his representative who witnessed the full dress rehearsal. A wordless play clearly comes within the definition of "stage play" in Section 23 of the Theatres Act.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has information to the effect that Mr. G. A. Bedford, at one time examiner of plays under the Lord Chamberlain, has been appointed censor of cinematograph performances; whether he can say by what authority he is appointed; what are his duties and powers; under what Statute he acts; and how the powers of the local authority or the police are affected by the appointment?

I am informed that the majority of film manufacturers in this country have agreed among themselves to establish an office for the examination of the films that they propose to put upon the market, and that Mr. Bedford has been appointed censor, with general control of the organisation. The new arrangement is entirely unofficial, but I think that such an independent examination of films will be useful to the trade, and at the same time will do much to protect the public from any risk of the production of objectionable pictures. The powers of the local authorities and police will remain unaffected.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if it is with the consent and knowledge of the Colonial Office that preference in the choice of the most healthy stations in British Central Africa is given to bachelors over married men; and whether he will make arrangements by which officials may be encouraged to marry instead of continuing the practice referred to above as being opposed to such an end?

The answer to the first part of the hon. Member's question is in the negative; and, that being so, it is unnecessary for me to deal with the second part of it.

asked the Prime Minister whether he will arrange that the Government of Ireland Bill shall be reprinted from time to time with Amendments as adopted?

Up to the present the Amendments made have not been so numerous as to necessitate the reprinting of the Bill; but I will consider the hon. Member's suggestion in the event of further Amendments.

asked the hon. Member for St. George' s-in-the-East, as represent- ing the First Commissioner of Works, whether the air driven into the House can be delivered into the Chamber without being passed over steam-heated coils, and the atmosphere diversified in some manner so as to avoid the dead depressing uniformity; and whether in different parts of the Palace of Westminster, for instance, in some of the Libraries, a cooler atmosphere can be maintained in place of the present highly heated uniformity?

The air can be delivered into the Chamber without being passed over steam heated coils; but, as the radiators provide the only means of heating the air, it would naturally be at outside temperature, which would not be a satisfactory working condition. There is no difficulty in varying the temperature of the air between certain agreed limits, but I feel that this alteration should receive the support of the House. The Libraries are not highly heated, as the temperature records of the room will show; the temperatures are taken hourly, and are open for inspection. The temperature can be lowered in these rooms if it is the general wish of Members.