asked the Secretary to the Treasury how many Orders, etc., have been issued by the Insurance Commissioners on the strength of their power to remove difficulties under Section 78 of the National Insurance Act; and whether he can give a list of them?

A list of the Orders issued under Section 78 up to 21st January last was given in answer to the hon. Member for Colchester on that date. The following Orders have been made since that date.

	Date of Order.
Title.	Insurance Commissioners.	Scottish Insurance Commissioners.	Irish Insurance Commissioners.	Welsh Insurance Commissioners.
Payments to Insurance Committees, 1913	—	11th March	13th March	—
Payments to Insurance Committees, No. 2, 1913	24th Jan.	—		30th Jan.
Payments to Insurance Committees, No. 3, 1913	20th March.	—	—	28th March
Payments to Insurance Committees, No. 4, 1913	22nd April	—	—	9th April
Further Payments to Approved Societies, 1913	3rd Feb.	11th March	—	—
Further Payments to Approved Societies, No. 2, 1913	9th April	—	21st Feb.	22nd Jan.
Further Payments to Approved Societies, No. 3, 1913	—	—	—	24th Feb.
Navy and Army Fund, Maternity Benefit, 1913	10th Feb.	—	—	—
Transfer of Deposit Contributors, 1913	12th Feb.	—	20th March	22nd April
District Insurance Committees, 1913	18th Feb.	—	—	2nd April
Deposit Contributors, Medical and Sanatorium Benefits, 1913	31st March	—	—	—
Sanatorium Benefit, 1913	31st March	—	—	9th April
Deposit Contributors, Administration Expenses, 1913	9th April	—	—	19th April
County Borough of Dewsbury Insurance Committee, 1913	31st March	—	—	—
County Borough of Barnsley Insurance Committee, 1913	15th April	—	—	—
County Borough of Merthyr Tydvil Insurance Committee, 1913	—	—	—	30th Jan.
County of Tipperary, North Riding Insurance Committee, 1913	—	—	28th March	—
County of Donegal Insurance Committee, 1913	—	—	28th March	—
County Borough of Dublin Insurance Committee, 1913	—	—	21st April	—

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that when he signed the Closing Order for medicine for the borough of Portsmouth 324 chemists signed a petition asking him to withhold his signature and only 61 chemists were in favour of the Closing Order; and whether he will state exactly

I received no such petition, but after the Order was confirmed a local association sent me a letter saying they had the signatures of 324 persons who were opposed to the Order. Before the confirmation of the Order thesame association had sent me a petition against the Order signed by fifty persons; but on a consideration of the report which was submitted to me by the town council as to the manner in which the register of shops had been prepared, I was satisfied that great care had been taken to include all persons who were entitled to vote on the Order, and that the persons represented by the association carried on the business to a small extent only and were not entitled under the provisions of the Act to be placed on the register. Of those who carried on the sale of medicines as their principal business or as a substantial part of their business a large majority were in favour of the Order. As regards the last part of the question, the Order applies generally to the sale of medicines and medical and surgical appliances, and does not specifically mention chemists' shops.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury which is the Government Department through which the advance to the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society has been made and which is to be held primarily responsible for the supervision of the expenditure in accordance with the conditions laid down?

The advance will be made through the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction.

also asked the Secretary to the Treasury whether he can lay upon the Table the letter addressed to the Development Commissioners by the committee of the Irish Agricultural Society, in which the assurances required by the Development Commissioners and referred to in the Treasury letter of the 1st April were contained?

The society's letter to which the hon. Member refers deals with a number of matters unconnected with the question of political activity. The only passage bearing on this question was as follows:—

"Paragraph 6.—I am instructed to give this assurance, and to add that any departure from this fundamental condition of the movement would immediately break up the society. Any indiscretion on the part of a servant, agent, or member of the society would be promptly and adequately dealt with by the committee."

The sixth paragraph of the Commissioners' letter, to which the above-quoted paragraph was a reply, ran as follows:—

"They" (the Commissioners) "presume that they may count on an assurance from the society that it will take no share whatever in controversies involving political partisanship, whether through its agents, spokesmen, or printed publications."

asked the Secretary to the Treasury whether the accounts of the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society will be subjected to a public audit; and whether that audit will be submitted to the Public Accounts Committee and this House?

I understand that the accounts are audited in the usual manner by a firm of accountants. There is no intention of requiring the audited accounts of the society to be submitted to the Public Accounts Committee.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what system, if any, is followed in the selection of persons to whom Super-tax forms are sent; and whether he is aware that the opinion is widely held that a very large number of persons liable to pay Super-tax are never assessed to and in fact escape payment of that tax?

With regard to the first part of the question, I would refer the hon. Member to the answers given to similar questions on 6th, 13th, 19th, and 21st July, 1910. As to the second part, a suggestion to that effect was made in yesterday's Debate. If the hon. Member will furnish me with any evidence on the subject, I shall be pleased to have inquiry made.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will state how many Income Tax forms are returned filled up with merely a statement that all income is taxed at source or words to that effect; and whether he will consider the advisability of requiring each person to whom any Income Tax paper is sent to sign a declaration of liability or non-liability, as the case may be, to pay Super-tax?

The information asked for in the first part of the hon. Member's question is, I regret, not available. I have considered the suggestion made in the second part of his question, but there does not appear to be sufficient ground for supposing that the requirement of such a declaration would lead to any substantial result. The hon. Member is doubtless aware that persons who are liable to Super-tax are themselves required by law to give notice of their liability.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland how many criminal cases were tried at the last assizes at Galway; and in how many cases a conviction was obtained?

The number of criminal cases tried at the last Galway Assizes was fifteen. Convictions were obtained in two cases, and in five cases the accused pleaded guilty.

asked whether the Estates Commissioners have purchased the Scully estate, situated at Donaskeigh and Ballinaclough, county Tipperary, for redistribution?

The reply is in the negative. The Estates Commissioners instituted proceedings for the acquisition of the lands of Donaskeigh and Ballinaclough on the estate of Thomas Scully, county Tipperary, under the provisions of the Evicted Tenants Act, 1907, but the owner lodged objections under Section 2 of the Act, and the Commissioners decided to discontinue the proceedings.

asked the Secretary for War whether a new three-edged sword has been issued to the Cavalry; whether many trial swords of this pattern have been broken in tests by Cavalrymen; and whether the steel is of British manufacture?

No such sword has been issued to the Cavalry.

asked why the adjutants of the Special Reserve and Territorial battalions in the York district are no longer allowed the year's extension of their appointments which it has previously been accustomed to grant?

The alteration in the tenure of these appointments is not limited to the Northern Command. Army Order 307 of 1912 enacted that the terms of these appointments should be three years, with an extension, usually limited to six months, in exceptional circumstances.

asked the President of the Board of Education what is the total number of children in public elementary schools on which Grant was paid in each year from 1905–6 to the present date, including the Estimates now before the House for 1913–14; what would have been the number in each year if the rate of increase in the eight years ending in 1906 had been maintained; and what is the aggregate sum saved on the Parliamentary Grant from 1906 to 1914 by reason of it being paid on the lower of the above totals instead of the higher one?

Different Grants are paid upon different figures of average attendance; but taking annual Grant as the most important, and taking the financial year as the period to which the question is intended to relate, the average attendance of the public elementary schools on which annual Grant was paid from 1907–8 onwards are as follows:—

1907–8	…	…	…	5,302,579
1908–9	…	…	…	5,330,817
1909–10	…	…	…	5,378,584
1910–11	…	…	…	5,391,169
1911–12	…	…	…	5,382,627
1912–13	…	…	…	5,375,002

I have no figures for 1905–6 and 1906–7 which can be exactly compared with the figures from 1907–8 onwards, and I have, therefore, omitted these two years. The figures given above are not the figures on which payment was actually made within the year. Those could be given if required, but for the purpose of comparing the number of children in the succession of years it will probably be more convenient to the hon. Member to have the figures as I have given them, since by this method of arrangement every school appears once, and once only, in the figures of each year. I have no returns of the children at school for a later date than 31st March, 1913; I have estimated for a stationary average attendance for the year 1913–14. The basis on which Grants based on average attendance are paid by the Board has undergone some change during the period to which the question relates, but their total may be taken roughly as amounting to not less than £2 0s. 1d., and not more than £2 0s. 6½d. per child. I cannot undertake to answer the hypothetical question contained in the second part of the question, or the question based upon the answer to it contained in the last part.

asked the President of the Board of Education whether the terms of the reference to the consultative committee on the exclusion from school of children under five years of age stated that any proposals to discourage the attendance of such children at school were to be on the assumption that the moneys then payable in grants for such children would still be payable to local authorities in greater relief of other expenditure; what is the total sum saved, from 1905 to the Estimates for 1913–14, by the reduction in the number of the children under five following the discouragement aforesaid; what sums have been paid out of this total to local authorities as suggested; and what portion of the total saving has gone to the Treasury?

The answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. Any sums by which the expenditure of the Board fell short of the amount voted have, in the ordinary course, been surrendered year by year to the Treasury, but I am not aware of any sums which have been returned for the reason suggested by the hon. Member. I am unable to answer the last two parts of the question.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, whether he has had any official information to the effect that British officers have been killed by natives in the Bahr-el-Ghazel province of the Soudan?

The answer is in the negative.

asked the President of the Local Government Board whether he can state the number of Poor Law children emigrated to Canada during 1912?

The number of Poor Law children whose emigration to Canada was authorised by the Local Government Board during 1912 was 669.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for India whether he is aware of the terms of the Memorandum made by Lord Morley regarding future appointments to the office of Director of Public Instruction in Bengal; and if the appointment to that office recently made fulfils the conditions laid down in Lord Morley's Memorandum?

My hon. Friend presumably refers to a Resolution published by the Government of India in 1906 on the receipt of a despatch from Lord Morley. The procedure there laid down has been exactly followed.

asked the Secretary for the Colonies why an Englishman living in the island of Guernsey has to register himself as an alien or étranger?

My right hon. Friend has asked me to reply to this question. I will communicate with the authorities of the island, and will reply further as soon as I can.

asked the Lord Advocate whether his attention has been directed to the fact that in England provision is made by the rules of the Supreme Court (Order 22, Rule 15) for damages or compensation recovered on behalf of infants in respect of death or personal injuries being paid to the Public Trustee unless the Court otherwise directs, and to the statement in the Report of the Public Trustee for last year to the effect that there are now nearly 400 such cases on his books representing nearly 700 children; if he will say what, if any, similar arrangements are made for similar cases in Scotland; and, if so, upon what public officer the duties of such trusteeship devolve?

The answer to the first part of my hon. Friend's question is in the affirmative; with regard to the second part of the question, sums recovered under the Workmen's Compensation Act for the benefit of pupil children are invested, applied, or dealt with as the Court directs, under the provisions contained in the Second Schedule to the Act, paragraph 5. Damages due to pupil children can be recovered only at the suit of their tutor or guardian, and are paid to such tutor or guardian.

asked the President of the Board of Agriculture the number of prosecutions for sheep scab which took place in Great Britain for each of the last three years; the total number of animals comprised in the flocks in which diseased animals were found; and will he state the result of the prosecutions?

supplied the following particulars of prosecutions which have taken place in Great Britain for failing to report the existence of sheep scab for each year since 1st January, 1910:—

asked the President of the Board of Agriculture what is the present charge per head for lairage of Irish cattle at the ports of Merklands (Glasgow), Dundee, Ardrossan, Ayr, Stranraer, Heysham, Fleetwood, Liverpool, Birkenhead, Holyhead, Cardiff, and Bristol, respectively?

The following are the present charges per head sanctioned by the Board for lairage of Iriseh cattle at the ports named in the question:—

Lairage Place.		Period for which charged.	Amount
			s.	d.
Merklands (Glasgow)	…	Twenty-four hours (calculated from midnight of day of landing)	*2	6
		Each subsequent twenty-four hours or part thereof	0	6
Dundee	…	Period not exceeding twenty-four hours	1	2
		Each subsequent twenty-four hours or part thereof	0	6
Ayr	…	Period of twelve hours. (In practice two additional hours are allowed for loading for which no extra charge is made.)	*2	0
		Each subsequent period of twelve hours or part	*1	0
Heysham	…	A period of twelve hours	1	0
		Each subsequent period of twelve hours or part thereof	1	0
Fleetwood	…	For twelve hours	1	0
		Each subsequent twelve hours or part thereof	1	0
Birkenhead	…	To midnight of fifth day after landing	1	0
		Each subsequent twenty-four hours or part thereof	1	0
Holyhead	…	Period not exceeding twelve hours	1	0
		Each subsequent twelve hours or part thereof	1	0
Cardiff	…	Twenty-four hours calculated from midnight of day of landing	1	9
		Each subsequent twenty-four hours, if dispatched alive	1	0
		If slaughtered	0	6
Bristol	…	Twenty-four hours calculated from midnight day of arrival	1	6
		Each subsequent twenty-four hours, if dispatched alive	1	0
		If slaughtered	0	6
The actual charge at Merklands is now 2s. 3d. for the first twenty-four hours.
No Irish cattle are at present landed at Ardrossan, Stranraer, or Liverpool.
* Charges only sanctioned provisionally.

asked the Secretary to the Board of Trade whether he is aware that the combined effect of the increase of wages and the increase in the cost of living in the Rhenish-West-phalian district has been to make the miners in that area 10⅓ per cent. worse off than they were in 1907; and whether he has any figures to show to what extent the rise in miners' wages in England and Wales during the last six months has been prejudiced by an increase in the cost of living?

Between 1907 and 1911 the average daily wages of coal miners in

asked the Postmaster-General if he has seen reason to reconsider his statement to a deputation that the "Dundee Advertiser" special wire is a spare one, and would not be kept up at all if it were not for the demands of the newspaper; and whether the wire is in general use from 6 a.m. till 6 p.m. when the newspaper is not employing it?

Since the extension of the main underground system to Glasgow and Edinburgh there are, as far as these points, two more circuits to Dundee than there were before. The special wire assigned to the "Dundee Advertiser" is not needed or used for general Dundee work, but the length between London and Glasgow is used during the day for Glasgow work.

asked the Postmaster-General whether he can give, for the week ending 31st August, 1912, the number of trunk calls between Lowestoft and London and between Evesham and London, and the number which were not connected in less that twenty minutes?

It is not practicable to supply the information as such records are not kept longer than three months.

asked the Postmaster-General how many trunk circuits there are available for communicating between England and Scotland; and how many available between England and Wales?

There are twenty-five trunk circuits in use between England and Scotland, and eighty-four between England and Wales and Monmouth.

asked the Postmaster-General whether the expenditure on trunk lines is estimated monthly or quarterly; and whether he is now able to state the estimated amount of such expenditure between November, 1912, and March, 1913?

The probable expenditure on trunk lines in each year is estimated annually in advance. No estimate of the amount likely to be expended in any month is made; and the accounts of expenditure during a particular month are not completed till a much later date. I regret that it is not practicable at present to say what the actual expenditure between November, 1912, and March, 1913, was, but I will communicate with the hon. Member when the figures are available.

asked the Postmaster-General whether assistant superintendents, in the London postal service were eligible for promotion to assistant postmasterships; whether the promotions to these posts have so far been confined to the clerical staff; and whether, in these circumstances, he will consider the question of appointing an assistant superintendent to the vacant assistant postmastership now existing in the London postal service?

Assistant superintendents are eligible for promotion to assistant postmasterships in London and are considered on each occasion of a vacancy; but, owing chiefly to their lack of training on clerical work, no assistant superintendent has so far succeeded in obtaining promotion to an assistant postmastership. The question of appointing an assistant superintendent will be duly considered in connection with the filling of the existing vacancy.

asked the Postmaster-General what the telegraph revenue for 1911 and 1912 was for each of the following towns: Bradford, Coventry, Carlisle, Gloucester, Exeter, Aylesbury, and Worcester?

Time has not admitted of my obtaining this information; but I may say that the main underground system was taken through the places named because, they happened to lie, on a route adopted for other reasons and not on account of their telegraph traffic or population.

asked the Attorney-General how many applications have been received by the Public Trustee to act as trustee of trusts which fall or would fall to be administered under the Law of Scotland during each year since the passing of the Public Trustee Act, 1906, and in the aggregate?

I would refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave him to a similar question on the 6th August last, in which it is stated that no statistics are kept of the Scotch trusts submitted for acceptance of the Public Trustee, but that the number at that date was estimated at not less than 500. I am informed that since then the tendency is for such applications to increase rather than decrease.

asked the Attorney-General at what date the Public Trustee first made arrangements for undertaking the safe custody of wills of living persons; and what is the number of such wills that have been deposited with the Public Trustee for safe custody during the remainder of that year and during each subsequent year?

The Public Trustee undertook the safe custody of wills of living persons as from the date of the inception of his office, 1st January, 1908. The first will deposited in the Public Trustee office for safe custody was received on the 4th January, 1908, and the following figures give the number of the wills deposited with the Public Trustee for the periods mentioned:—

Date.			Number of Wills deposited.
January to March, 1908 (three months)			35
1908–1909	…	…	106
1909–1910	…	…	251
1910–1911	…	…	367
1911–1912	…	…	407
1912–1913	…	…	534
			1,700