asked the Secretary to the Treasury how many insured persons there were in Ireland on the 31st December last; and how did the number compare with the official estimate?

No later figures are at present available than those given to the hon. Member on the 5th February on the basis of the first quarter's cards.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury how many insured persons there were on 31st December in Belfast, Dublin, and Cork, and the counties of Down, Antrim, and Londonderry; and how did the respective numbers compare with the official estimate?

The following table shows the approximate numbers of insured persons resident in the insurance committee areas named at the end of the first quarter:—

Belfast county borough	…	140,000
Dublin county borough	…	85,000
Dublin county	…	32,000
Cork county borough	…	27,000
Cork county	…	30,000
Down county	…	31,000
Antrim county	…	32,500
Londonderry county boro'		10,000
Londonderry county	…	10,000

Several societies have not yet furnished information as to the residence of all their members, and the above figures may be subject to some increase. Information up to the date mentioned in the question could not be obtained without involving considerable clerical labour to societies. No official estimates were made of the numbers of insured persons in particular districts in Ireland. The estimates published in Cd. 5983 were for the country as a whole.

asked the Postmaster-General why the ten senior men in the General Post Office Registry, who were offered posts at the Insurance Commission last October, have not received them; whether three men with no insurance experience were held to be better qualified than three with eight months' experience; are three men who are not Welsh being sent to Cardiff, while Welsh-speaking Welshmen senior to them in the General Post Office Registry have been refused the posts; will he say why the ten registry assistants were not taken in strict order of seniority last July when the Insurance Commissioners asked for them; is he aware that the men who protested last July and were told that the ten men were those who could be most easily spared are now being told that the most suitable officers have been selected; what was the necessity of exhibiting a notice inviting applications for assistant clerkships when three men (and no one else) who had previously been offered the posts were afterwards sent; and what compensation will the Registry Staff (General Post Office) receive?

In July last the English Insurance Commissioners asked the Post Office for temporary assistance in the work of their registry, and the ten most suitable registry assistants who could be spared at the moment were lent to them. Subsequently the Commissioners proposed to appoint these officers permanently to their Department; but, as the selections made in July had been confined to those suitable officers who could be spared at the time, it was thought right to issue to the whole of the second class of registry assistants a general invitation to apply for transfer. Of the ten men finally selected from amongst the applicants as being the most suitable for transfer, seven were already on loan and the remaining three were men who were not available when the loan was arranged in July. The Welsh Insurance Commissioners subsequently asked for the transfer to the Welsh Commission of the three officers who were on loan and failed to obtain appointments in the English Commission, and no doubt the Welsh Commissioners had satisfied themselves of the suitability of the men for the work which they would be called upon to perform. I fail to see that any compensation is due to those members of the registry staff who were not successful in obtaining appointments in either of the insurance commissions.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury whether an inquiry has within the past month or two been held by the Treasury into the alleged compulsory retirement of an English inspector of schools; whether an ex-inspector of national schools in Ireland has lately written to the Treasury asking for a similar inquiry into the circumstances that led up to his retirement; whether the inquiry asked will be granted; and, if not, will he explain why the treatment is different in the two cases, one English and the other Irish?

The retirement of an inspector of schools would be a matter for the Education Department concerned, and not for the Treasury. No such inquiry as the hon. Member suggests has been held by the Treasury in the case of any English inspector, nor could the Treasury undertake such an inquiry.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland how much has been withheld out of the Local Taxation Account from the Kerry County Council during the past four years, respectively, in respect of the Tralee and Dingle Railway?

The following abatements have been made from sums payable to the Kerry County Council out of the Local Taxation Account during the past four years in respect of the Tralee and Dingle Railway, namely:—

1910	…	…	…	Nil.
1911	…	…	…	£593	13	2
1912	…	…	…	£604	19	3
1913	…	…	…	£399	4	5

asked the Secretary of State for War the number of men of the Territorial Force who enlisted from that force into the Regular Army during the year ended 30th September, 1912?

The number amounted to 3,222. This will be found on page 120 of the General Annual Report. Cd. 6656.

asked the Secretary of State for War the number of men of the Special Reserve who enlisted from that force into the Regular Army during the year ended 30th September, 1912?

The number amounted to 10,362. This will he found on page 105 of the General Annual Report. Cd. 6656.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is aware that, according to a recent statement in Messrs. Montagu's bullion circulars, our token silver currency to the value of over five millions sterling has been imported by the British Bank of West Africa chiefly for the Nigerias; whether he will take steps for the profit to the Treasury, amounting to some two and a-half millions, on this currency being paid over to the administration of these protectorates, seeing that the profit derived from the silver currency of another dependency, India, is treated as the property of that Government?

The suggestion of the hon. Member has been considered on more than one occasion. For the most recent discussion of the subject I would refer him to the Report of the West African Currency Committee, presented to Parliament in October last [Command 6426]. In the future, after the new local currency has been introduced into West Africa, the profit accruing will become the property of the local governments miler the conditions mentioned in the 25th paragraph of the Report.

asked the President of the Board of Agriculture the acreage of land under wheat in the United Kingdom (including Ireland) in the year 1911 or 1912, and the number of quarters produced in such area?

The area under wheat in the United Kingdom (excluding the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands) in 1912 with 1,970,542 acres and the produce 7,175,288 quarters.

asked the Postmaster-General whether he can see his way to arrange that there should be a delivery of letters to Skaith Farm, Newton Stewart, Wigtownshire, on six days a week, in view of the fact that there are eight other inhabited houses within a radius of a mile of that place, all within three and a-half miles of the post office in Newton Stewart?

I am having inquiry made in the matter, and I will communicate the result to the Noble Lord.