asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the amount of Consols, Annuities, Irish Land Stock, and other Government securities held by the Post Office Savings Bank as a result of their investments of the sums deposited with them; the average prices at which these securities were taken over as compared with the current market price on the Stock Exchange; what is the depreciation in £sterling between the original cost and present prices; and will he grant a Return giving the information desired?

As regards the first part of the question I would refer the hon. Member to House of Commons Paper 191, of 1912, or to Appendix J of the Report of the Postmaster-General for 1911–12, Cd. 6495, which show the investments at 31st December, 1911. Similar statements for 31st December, 1912, will be published in due course. As regards the remainder of the question, the Select Committee on Savings Banks of 1902 recommended the discontinuance of a valuation of the securities as being misleading, and Section 9 (2) of the Savings Banks Act, 1904, gave statutory effect to this recommendation. To furnish the information desired by the hon. Member would therefore tend to defeat the intention of the Statute in question.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland when the completion of the actuarial investigation into the Irish Teachers' Pension Fund may be expected; is the delay in the completion of this investigation caused by the tardiness of the National Education Office in supplying statistics; will he do what he can to expedite this matter, seeing the hardships caused to those teachers who have to resign on small amounts; and when may the new pension scheme be expected to come into operation?

I understand that the delay has been largely due to the teachers having selected a second actuary in lieu of the one originally nominated by them. The compilation of the preliminary statistics has been completed, and they are now before the actuaries. I fear I am unable to say when the actuarial investigation will be completed, or when the new scheme will come into operation.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether junior assistant mistresses in the Catholic Archdiocese of Armagh, in whose schools the average reached fifty and upwards, have been retained, although the managers received letters from the Commissioners of National Education, asking for their removal, similar to the one received by the manager of Tolerton national school in which Miss Hennessy taught; that these managers, acting on instructions from the higher ecclesiastical authorities, completely ignored the instructions of the Board, and that the now modified Rule 86a was not enforced in the schools of the archdiocese; why did not the Commissioners of Education enforce this rule generally, irrespective of dioceses; whether the same member of the Board who first proposed the sanction of this class of teacher was afterwards responsible for the introduction of this penalising regulation; how many of such teachers were removed from their positions because of this rule, and how many were threatened with dismissal; and will the Commissioners, who, by the enforcement of this rule, insisted on the dismissal of Miss Hennessy after a service of thirty-one years, now insist that she receives the benefit of the modification by having her restored to her former position in Toler-ton school, Roll No. 11,321?

The Commissioners of National Education inform me that Rule 86a which requires that when an average attendance of fifty is maintained in any school a fully qualified assistant must be appointed, is enforced in the Catholic Archdiocese of Armagh as in the rest of Ireland in cases to which the provisions of the rule apply. The proceedings of the Commissioners at meetings of the Board are confidential. The Commissioners are not at present in a position to say how many teachers have been removed or threatened with dismissal owing to the operation of the rule, but inquiries are being made. Miss Hennessy ceased service as junior assistant-mistress in Toler-ton national school in April, 1912, and a fully qualified assistant was appointed to succeed her in accordance with the requirements of Rule 86a. There is no provision in the regulations of the Commissioners under which Miss Hennessy could be restored to her former position in Tolerton school.

asked the Chief Secretary whether he has yet obtained Treasury consent to the monthly payment of Irish teachers' salaries; and, seeing that the Government admit the hardships inflicted on teachers by the quarterly system of payments, will he endeavour to secure a Supplementary Estimate for this purpose at an early date?

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the question asked on this subject by the hon. Member for East Down on 13th February last, to which I have nothing to add.

asked the Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture (Ireland), whether Mr. O. T. F. M'Gahon, of Dundalk, draws any salary from his Department; if so, what is the nature of the services rendered and the amount paid annually in respect of them; whether he is aware that this gentleman is chairman of the local technical committee, and whether it is competent for him to occupy this position whilst being a salaried servant of the Department?

Mr. T. F. M`Gahon, of Dundalk, is not a salaried servant of the Department. For some years past he has been employed by the Department for about two or three weeks in each year as an acting inspector of science and art examinations at a fee of one guinea per day. The fees paid to him for this year amounted to £13 13s. Mr. M'Gahon is the present chairman of the County Louth Joint Committee for Technical Instruction. The Department are not aware of any reason why the short temporary employment above mentioned should preclude him from acting as chairman.

asked the Secretary to the Admiralty if he is aware that a storekeeper named Knight, employed in the loan tool stores at Portsmouth Dockyard, is receiving a wage of 21s. per week, while storekeepers in other departments in the yard are paid 24s.; and whether he will take steps to bring this man's wage up to 24s. per week?

Mr. Knight is a labourer performing an ordinary labourer's work under the supervision of a store-houseman. He receives the ordinary wages of a labourer, namely, 22s. a week, and will participate in the recently granted rise to 23s. a week from 1st June.

asked the Secretary for War the number of airships and aeroplanes, respectively, at present in the possession of the War Department; how many of these aeroplanes are biplanes and how many are monoplanes; how many of such monoplanes are being used for practice or instructional purposes, and how many are being reserved for use solely in time of war; how many of the biplanes are being regularly used for instructional or practice purposes; the districts in which detachments of the Royal Flying Corps are at present stationed; and how many biplanes and monoplanes are available for use at each of the stations?

The Royal Flying Corps is stationed at South Farnborough, Salisbury Plain, and Montrose. It is not considered to be in the interests of the public service to publish the other information which the hon. Member asks for.

also asked the numbers of officers, non-commissioned officers, and men at present serving in the Royal Flying Corps; whether there are any civilian mechanics at present employed by the Royal Flying Corps, and, if so, how many; and what are the numbers of officers, noncommissioned officers, men, and mechanics at each of the stations of the Royal Flying Corps?

The strength of the Royal Flying Corps, Military Wing, on the 1st May, amounted to seventy officers and 583 other ranks; and at the Central Flying School there are six military officers and sixty-eight other ranks belonging to the Royal Flying Corps. There are no civil mechanics employed with the Military Wing or at the Central Flying School.

further asked the number of officers, non-commissioned officers, and men on the active list who are in possession of flying certificates; the date on which the first flying certificate was obtained; and whether any changes have been made in the tests since that date?

On the assumption that the certificates mentioned are those granted at the Central Flying School, there are sixty-three officers on the active list in possession of such certificates and there are twenty officers who had qualified before the school started; there are seventeen of other ranks in possession of certificates. The first officer to graduate at the school after it was opened on 17th August, 1912, obtained his certificate on 24th August, 1912. The tests have not been altered since last August.

asked the Secretary for War whether he can sea his way to granting compensation to Lieut.-Colonel. Wesley, V.D., 4th East Lancashire Regiment, who was injured by his horse falling on some granite setts during some combined manœuvres on 9th October, 1910?

This officer was not injured during manœuvres, but was proceeding to the place of rendezvous of a mixed force to take part in a field day, when his horse slipped up in the streets of Darwen. The officer has received £25 in respect of medical expenses, but the Regulations do not, in such a case, admit of any other form of compensation being paid.

asked the President of the Local Government Board when the Order constituting a joint committee of boards of guardians in the county of Salop for dealing with feeble-minded paupers, which in February last was stated by the Board to be in preparation, is likely to be issued; and whether, in view of the fact that the resolutions of the boards of guardians were forwarded to the Local Government Board as far back as 16th August, 1912, he will give instructions for the issue of this Order to be expedited?

This matter has been under my consideration and an Order has been prepared for constituting a joint committee. A draft of the Order has now been sent to the guardians of the various unions concerned.

asked the President of the Local Government Board what was the total number of dwelling-houses of all kinds built between the years 1901 and 1911; how many houses out of this total were built by local government authorities; and what is the estimated number of persons for whom housing accommodation has thus been provided by local government authorities and by private persons, respectively?

The figures necessary to give an answer to the precise question are not available. It appears from Table I. of the recently published volume VI. of the Census, that the number of inhabited houses in England and Wales exclusive of London, increased by 879,381 between 1901 and 1911. This figure, however, takes no account of demolitions, etc., during the intercensal period. Loans were sanctioned by the Local Government Board during that period for the erection of about 4,000 houses under Part III of the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, by extra-metropolitan local authorities.

asked the Postmaster-General when the telephone service will be installed in Letterkenny; and will he secure the installation with the least possible delay, in view of the fact that negotiations have been carried on for a considerable period and that the traders of the town are suffering daily inconvenience from the want of a telephone service?

Up to the present time a sufficient number of agreements for the proposed telephone exchange at Letterkenny have not been forthcoming, but efforts are being made to obtain the necessary amount of support. If these efforts are successful, I will arrange for the work to be carried out as soon as practicable.

also asked the Postmaster-General whether he will establish call offices on the route of the new telephone wire to Letterkenny, thereby enabling the people of the districts through which the wire will pass to have telephone facilities while not imposing extra cost on the Department?

If it be decided to erect a telephone line to Letterkenny, I will have inquiry made to ascertain whether it will be practicable to establish any call offices along this route without incurring undue cost. I will communicate with the hon. Member further.