asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his attention has been called, by the Abertillery and District Water Board, to the amount of contributions paid by them under Part I. and Part II. of the National Insurance Act, 1911, on account of casual labour employed by them in the construction of their waterworks; and whether he will insert in the proposed National Insurance Act Amending Bill a provision for making graduated payments according to the actual time worked?

This question is now under consideration in connection with the Bill to amend Part I. of the Act, and I am not in a position to make any statement in regard to it. Questions in regard to Part II. of the Act should be addressed to the Board of Trade.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury whether there is any means by which the county insurance committee of any particular county in Ireland could send to a sanatorium a person who had been suffering from tuberculosis prior to the passing of the National Insurance Act, and who for that reason could not become insured through not being able to work; and, in view of the number of such cases, will some provision be made for these poor people?

Insurance committees have power under the National Insurance Act to extend sanatorium benefit to the dependants of insured persons, and in Ireland it is further open to a county council under the Tuberculosis Prevention (Ireland) Acts, 1908 and 1913, to provide treatment for all the inhabitants, insured or uninsured, of their county, who may be suffering from tuberculosis.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether his attention has been drawn to the action of Messrs. John Mowlem and Company in refusing to employ workmen who cannot. produce their insurance cards, although the workmen when they became unemployed had to deposit their cards at a Labour Exchange; and whether he proposes taking any action in the matter?

My attention has been called to this matter. I cannot at the moment say more than that it is receiving the careful consideration of the Department with a view to meeting, if possible, the difficulty to which my hon. Friend refers.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether the Estates Commissioners have acquired the Blackburne estate, at Footstown, county Meath; and, if so, whether it is intended to divide it between local applicants?

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given to his question on this subject on the 30th January last, to which I have nothing to add at present.

asked the Chief Secretary whether the Estates Commissioners' inspector, when inspecting the Hickson estate, Tier Cloghane, county Kerry, strongly recommended that it was one which should be taken over and dealt with by the Congested Districts Board; and what steps have since been taken to secure that the tenants will get the advantages of this recommendation?

This estate was the subject of proceedings for sale direct by the owner to the tenants under the Land Purchase Acts. The Estates Commissioners decided, after hearing the parties, that it was not a case in which they should declare the lands fit to be regarded as an estate for the purposes 'f sale, but they put a stay on their order for six months to enable the vendor to negotiate with the Congested Districts Board for the sale to the Board of the property, which is situate in a congested districts county. The Congested Districts Board have no information regarding the Hickson Estate at Tier, referred to in the question.

asked whether the Estates Commissioners have been offered for purchase the Kilmurray estate, county Meath, owned by Captain Fowler; if so, is Captain Fowler proposing to exclude from the sale the untenanted land now in his possession, including an evicted farm; and will the Commissioners agree to purchase only a portion of an estate?

Captain Fowler has instituted proceedings under the Land Purchase Acts for the sale of this estate, including the evicted farm, and it is expeced the property will be inspected at an early date. Meanwhile the Estates Commissioners cannot make any statement as regards the inquiry made in the concluding portion of the question.

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether a house and a plot of land, formerly used as a national schoolhouse, on the estate of General Clive, Corriganeen, Roscrea, county Tipperary, has been acquired by Surgeon-General Roe, Loran Park, Roscrea, under the Land Act, 1909; whether the Estates Commissioners have declared this house and plot of land an agricultural holding; whether Surgeon-General Roc is owner in fee simple of 5,000 acres of untenanted land in this district; and whether the Estates Commissioners will advance the purchase money on this holding, which was built for public use?

This estate is the subject of proceedings for sale direct by the owner to the tenants under the Irish Land Act, 1903, and an agreement signed by Surgeon-General Roe for the purchase a plot of about half an acre on the estate was lodged with the Estates Commissioners, who, however, are not prepared to make any advance under the Land Purchase Acts for the purchase of this plot, and have so informed the vendor's solicitor. The Commissioners understand that the house on the plot was formerly used as a schoolhouse. They are not aware of the amount of untenanted land held in fee simple by Surgeon-General Roe.

asked how the purchase of the estate of Mr. Robert Blake, Ballyglunin, county Galway, at present stands; and what part of the property is proposed to he retained by the vendor?

The Congested Districts Board inform me that this estate is at present being inspected by the Board's valuer, and until his report has been received they are not in a position to give the information asked for.

asked whether the Martyn estate, Lisduff, parish of Dunmore, county Galway, has been bought by the Congested Districts Board; whether the purchase included the large grazing farm on the estate; whether this farm will be divided amongst the small tenants on the property; and what stage the matter now stands in?

This estate has not been offered for sale through the Congested District Board. The board have communicated with the owner regarding a sale, but the maps and documents necessary for a preliminary inspection to be made have not so far been lodged with them.

asked whether the Congested Districts Board have been able to purchase the Lough farm, near Dingle; and whether, seeing that Mrs. Malone has been declared an evicted tenant, steps will be taken to secure this place for her?

The Estates Commissioners are in negotiation with the owner for the purchase by them of the lands of Lough referred to in the question. Mrs. Malone's case will be further considered by the Commissioners should they acquire these lands, but they cannot make any promise that they will be able to provide her with a holding.

asked the Chief Secretary the number of students in each of the Irish training colleges recognised by the Board who attended the Irish classes in those colleges during the year now closing; the number of hours per week in each college which such students give to Irish; the total number of students in each college; and the number in each college who qualified last year to teach Irish?

The Commissioners of National Education are not in a position to give the information asked for in the first two paragraphs of the question. The total number of students admitted to each college for the current Session is as follows:—Marlborough Street Training College, Dublin, 101 men and 165 women (exclusive of 1 woman-extern); St. Patrick's Training College, Drumcondra, Dublin, 165 men; Our Lady of Mercy Training College, Carysfort Park, Black-rock, County Dublin, 200 women; Church of Ireland Training College, Kildare Place, Dublin, 34 men and 95 women; De la Salle Training College, Waterford, 200 men; St. Mary's Training College, Belfast, 100 women; Mary Immaculate Training College, Limerick, 100 women. The number of students in each college wife qualified last year at the Board's examination to teach Irish to national school pupils is as follows:—Marlborough Street Training College, Dublin, 4 men and 3 women; St. Patrick's Training College, Drumcondra, Dublin, 15 men; Our Lady of Mercy Training College, Carysfort Park, Blackrock, County Dublin, 15. women; Church of Ireland Training College, Kildare Place, Dublin, Nil; De la Salle Training College, Waterford, 33 men; St. Mary's Training College, Belfast, 20 women; Mary Immaculate Training College, Limerick, 12 women.

asked how many national schools there are in each of the four provinces in which Irish is taught, either during school hours or as an extra subject, the number of pupils in each province who are learning Irish, and the number of schools and pupils attending in each province in which there is bilingual teaching?

The Commissioners of National Education inform me that the latest figures at present available in the required form are those in respect of the year 1911. Excluding the bilingual schools specified below, the number of schools on the 31st December, 1911, in which Irish was taught, either during school hours or as an extra subject, was for each province as follows:—Ulster, 388; Munster, 942; Leinster, 402; Connaught., 648. Total, 2,380. The number of pupils in each province who on the 31st December, 1911, were learning Irish in the above schools was approximately:—Ulster, 19,888; Munster, 50,883; Leinster, 23,603; Connaught, 37,202. Total, 131,576. The number of schools (and pupils attending) in each province, in which there was bilingual teaching on the 31st December, 1911, was:

asked whether the Congested Districts Board have yet come to an arrangement with Lord Ventry regarding the town of Dingle; and, if not, will steps be immediately taken to have the matter completed as quickly as possible?

The town of Dingle has not been offered for sale through the Congested Districts Board by Lord Ventry, and could not be purchased by them under the Land Purchase Acts as the agricultural estate of Lord Ventry has been already vested in the Board.

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if he will state on what grounds the Local Government Board refused to grant pensions to Maurice Tobin, of Ballinanima, Kilfinane, county Limerick, and John Borenizer, of Kilfinane, county Limerick; was the local pension officer satisfied that those men were beyond seventy; and, in view of the fact that the members of the local pension committee are fully aware that these said poor men are entitled to their pensions and have threatened to resign unless they are granted, will an inspector be sent down to investigate their claims and see the -whole thing and report on it

These claims were disallowed by the Local Government Board on appeal on the ground that the evidence submitted was not sufficiently conclusive to warrant them in holding that the claimants were seventy years of age. With regard to John Borenizer's claim, I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given to his question on this subject on the 22nd April. In the case of Maurice Tobin, he was unable to produce any satisfactory evidence that he had reached the age of seventy.

asked whether the Local Government Board refused to grant a pension to Margaret O'Donnell though it had been passed by the local pension committee at Kilfinane, county Limerick; whether she produced a certificate from the local parish register which showed she was married on the 17th of February, 1863, and had also the evidence of several older persons to say she was well over seventy; and will the Board reconsider their decision and grant the pension to this poor woman?

The hon. Member presumably refers to the case of Margaret O'Connell. The facts are as stated, but it does not follow that the claimant is seventy because she was married fifty years ago. As a matter of fact, in the Census return of 1851 she was shown as being only five years of age, which would have left her seventeen years of age at her marriage and only sixty-seven years of age at present.

asked the Home Secretary whether he has any information regarding the prisoner Alice Hill, sentenced on 27th May to three years' penal servitude; whether she has carried out her expressed intention of refusing food whilst in prison; and whether, if so, she has been artificially fed?

This convict has not refused her food whilst in prison.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to the Oxford University (St. Edmund Hall and Gatcombe Rectory) Bill, whereby parochial funds will be diverted from a rural parish and devoted to a post in Oxford University; whether he is aware that this Bill has the approval of the Bishop of Winchester and other ecclesiastical authorities; and whether, accepting this Bill as an index of episcopal desires, he will support a suggestion which may be sent with the Established Church (Wales) Bill to another place to the effect that further sums may be taken out of ecclesiastical endowments than those already taken under the Bill, such further sums to be handed over to the University of Wales?

My attention has been called to this Bill, but I am unable to express an opinion as to whether any of its provisions afford an index of episcopal desires in connection with the question of the application of ancient ecclesiastical endowments.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is aware that the number of deaths from lead poisoning reported by the Chief Inspector of Factories under the Factory and Workshop Act, 1901, was twice as large as in the triennial period 1910–12, under special regulations, as in the period 1902–4; and whether he is satisfied that this effect of administration promises abatement of lead poisoning?

I am aware that the number of fatal cases of lead poisoning included in the annual returns for 1910–12 is twice as large as the number for the years 1902–4. The Medical Inspector of Factories, to whose annual reports I would refer my hon. Friend for fuller details, regards this not as indicating an increase in the actual number of fatal cases, but as due to the recognition that diseases such as chronic interstitial nephritis and cerebral hemorrhage may be sequelce of lead poisoning, and also to the greater inclination to certify deaths of lead workers from associated diseases such as phthisis, gastric ulcer, etc., as having been accelerated by lead poisoning. It must be borne in mind that the returns include all cases in which lead poisoning is mentioned in the death certificate as being either directly or indirectly the cause, and that, as has been frequently pointed out by the medical inspector, it is in many of these cases extremely doubtful whether lead poisoning has been responsible for the death. Better tests of the effect of administrative action for the prevention of lead poisoning would be a comparison of the number of cases in which death is due to acute lead poisoning, and in non-fatal cases a comparison of the proportion of severe as distinguished from slight cases. In 1910–12 the number of deaths due to acute lead poisoning was six only as compared with fourteen in 1902–4, and the percentage of severe cases, 18.2 as compared with 30.4 in 1902–4.

asked the President of the Board of Education whether he will suggest to the education committee of the county of Cumberland that the time has now come when they should compel the children resident in Lagburthwaite to attend the school at St. John's-in-theVale, where there is ample accommodation, and is only one and a half to two miles distant from their houses?

I am not prepared to adopt the course suggested by the hon. Member, as I am urging on the local education authority the desirability of providing temporary school accommodation at Legburthwaite. The hon. Member's statement as to the distance from the homes of the Legburthwaite children to the school at St. John's-in-the-Vale does not agree with statements made to the Board by residents in the locality.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he will state on what date the writ was issued by the High Court of British East Africa staying the transfer of the Masai from Laikipia pending the result of the action brought by certain members of the tribe?

I have no information beyond the statement which appeared in the Press on 14th April to the effect that an interim injunction had been granted stopping the proposed transfer of the Masai to the Southern Reserve pending the result of litigation, but that it was understood that the arrangements for the transfer were practically complete. As a matter of fact, the transfer had been completed on or before 10th April.

asked the President of the Board of Agriculture whether he can see his way to introduce legislation amending the law with regard to tuberculous cattle, so as to admit of compensation being paid in the case of cows on a milking rather than a carcase value, and relieving from criminal liability sellers in the market of beasts which they had no reason to suppose were otherwise than sound?

The working of the Tuberculosis Order will be carefully watched by the Board, and if experience shows that the present measure of compensation for the slaughter of tuberculous cattle results in hardship, I shall be prepared to consider the question of amending the Order. This can be done without legislation. If I am right in interpreting the latter part of the question as referring to the penalty attaching to the sale of unsound meat, I must refer the hon. Gentleman on that point to my right hon. Friend the President of the Local Government Board.

also asked the President whether he can see his way to introduce legislation extending to the case of pigs the existing practice with regard to compensation for the slaughter of tuberculous cattle?

The answer is in the negative.

asked the Secretary for Scotland if he can supply the following information in respect to the Stobhill Parish Hospital, Glasgow: The number of children under one year; the number of children from one to five years; the number of children at school, and the cost of each per week; the number of teachers, with the amount of Government Grant per child for teaching; the number of children fed and the number not fed at the breast, and the reason why some have been taken from their mothers; the number of cases sent last year to the Lock Hospital; the number of venereal cases in the hospital and the Poor Law institution; and the approximate cost per week?

I have been furnished with the following particulars:—Number of children under one year, 64; number of children from one to five years, 258: number of children at school (all in institution), 192; cost per week for each child (irrespective of age) for maintenance, etc., 5s. 3½d.; number of teachers, 4; Government Grant, 0; number of children fed at breast, 5; number of children not fed at breast, 59. (The reasons why children have been taken from mothers vary in nearly every case, and cannot be stated in general terms.) Number, if cases sent to Lock Hospital last year, none from Stobhill; number of venereal cases in hospital and Poor Law institution, none at Stobhill; cost per week, nil, there being no cases.

asked the Prime Minister whether it is intended to introduce the Inebriates Bill this Session; and, if so, when?

The Bill has already been introduced.

asked the President of the Local Government Board if he will give a statement for the years 1900 to 1912 of the births, deaths, natural increase, and emigration, if possible distinguishing the sexes, for the United Kingdom as a whole and for England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, separately, as far as this can be done; and if he will add figures showing how the figures referred to have moved in the present year to the latest date for which the facts are available?

All the particulars for which my hon. Friend asks are not available, but I am sending him copies of tables, embodying most of the information he requires, which I have received from, the Board of Trade and from the Registrar-General of each of the three kingdoms.

asked the President of the Local Government Board whether he is aware that Mrs. Dalton, of Lilac Walk, Hathersage, Derbyshire, made a declaration under the Vaccination Act, 1907, and sent it to the vaccination officer; that the officer, after notifying the husband that the form was not in order, refused either to return it or to supply a fresh form; and that in consequence of this action Mr. Dalton was unable to make a declaration within the legal period of four months from the birth of his child; and whether, under the circumstances, he will instruct the vaccination officer to take no further proceedings?

The Local Government Board have inquired into the circumstances of this case, but do not consider that it is one in which they can properly intervene in the manner proposed.

asked the President whether he will publish a Return showing the statistics of cost and pauperism, similar to that of 13th June, 1892, showing in each union, among other things, the ratio to population of indoor and outdoor paupers, respectively, and also the total cost of relief in the year ending 25th March, 1911, and the ratio of the cost of relief per head of population in the same year; and whether he will state which are the unions which treat by means of indoor relief more than half the persons they relieve?

So many of the particulars mentioned are already published in existing Returns that I do not think it necessary to repeat them in full in a special Return. I will, however, arrange that the Return of the cost of pauperism which is about to be issued shall show not only the total cost of poor relief for each union but what that represents per head of the census population. It will be seen from the periodical half-yearly returns that, besides all the unions in London, there are some thirty to forty unions in different parts of England and Wales where the number of indoor paupers exceeds the number of outdoor.

asked whether any, and, if so, how many, communications have been received at the Local Govern- ment Board from parish councils and other local authorities in support of the Cottage Homes for Aged Persons Bill?

Representations in support of the Bill have been received by the Local Government Board from 121 parish councils, twenty-two urban district councils, and one rural district council.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he is aware that the Middle Level Commissioners, who exercise control over a number of navigable waterways in the fen district, exclude from those waterways all steamboats and motor boats; whether he can say by what authority they enforce this exclusion; and whether, if the exclusion is within the legal powers of the Commissioners, he will use his influence with them for the removal of the restriction on trade and travel?

I am asking the Middle Level Commissioners for their observations on the hon. Member's question, and I will communicate with him on receipt of their reply. I may point out, however, that the works of the Commissioners were made primarily for the drainage of the area concerned, and that the navigation of the rivers and watercourses throughout the area is subordinate to the maintenance of the drainage.

asked the Postmaster-General whether he is aware that officers in receipt of wages rising to a maximum of 38s. are being trained for work formerly performed by officers in receipt of a maximum of 62s. at the South-Eastern District office, London; is this in pursuance of a policy of sweating that seems to have grown up since the present Government came into power; and will he undertake not to introduce any such innovations until after the Select Committee on Post Office Servants issues its Report?

I know of no proposal whereby work hitherto performed at the South-Eastern District office, London, by officers in receipt of maximum wages of 62s. a week will in future be performed by officers in receipt of wages rising to a maximum of 38s. a week.