asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland seeing that the alleged meritorious services for which rewards are paid out of the Irish Constabulary Force Fund are services to the State and not to the subscribers to that fund, will he state under what authority money ear-marked by Statute for the subscribers to that fund is paid as rewards for such services?

Rewards for meritorious service are paid from the Constabulary Force Fund under the Statutes 6 Wm. IV., cap. 13, section 49, and 29 and 30 Vic., cap. 103, section 9. There is no statutory provision confining the fund to subscribers in the matter of rewards.

asked the Chief Secretary on what authority old age pension officers in Ireland include a proportion of the establishment charges and also about 1s. weekly as value of lodging in the hospital in assessing value of patient's support and treatment in union hospitals; and whether he will refer to the Irish Law Officers for their opinion the contention of the Kilkenny Borough Pension Committee in a pending case that any value in excess of the average weekly cost, usually about 5s. 6d., at which every sick person is legally entitled to treatment, is a public common right like enjoyment of the public highway, and lighting provision, and so forth, and therefore not assessable as personal means?

Pension officers receive their instructions from the Commissioners of Customs and Excise, and not from the Local Government Board. The contention of the Kilkenny Borough Pension Committee referred to in the latter part of the question has been submitted in connection with an appeal case which is at present before the Board, and which is still under consideration.

asked the Secretary of State for War whether he is now in a position to give any information as to the reduction or abolition of the lower foundations of the military knights of Windsor?

I am not yet in. a position to make any statement on the subject.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if his attention has been directed to the case of James Martin, of Sefton, who was sentenced at the Islington Police Court on Friday last to one month's imprisonment, without the option of a fine, for a breach of the peace; whether he is aware that eye-witnesses aver that Martin did not commit the assault with which he was charged; and whether he will inquire into the matter with a view to ascertaining the advisability of remitting the sentence?

My attention has not previously been called to this case, but I am having inquiry made. On the facts as stated it would appear that prisoner had, under Section 19 of the Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1879, a right of appeal which he might have exercised if he considered that the conviction was not justified by the evidence.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department the number of accidents occurring on board ships and craft in harbours, docks, rivers, and canals, and at quays, wharves, and jetties in the United Kingdom and Ireland during the last three years, and the number of fatal accidents and of deaths due to accidents and of non-fatal accidents arising out of ships and craft loading and discharging; whether any, and, if so, what steps are taken to ensure the registering of all accidents in places of the occupations aforesaid; and whether all accidents which take place on properties covered by dock regulations will be classified in the Government annual Reports?

The number of accidents reported to the Factory Department under the provisions of the Factory Act as occurring in connection with the loading, unloading, and coaling of vessels during each of the last three years is as follows:—

		1910.	1911.	1912.
Fatal	…	136	152	183
Non-fatal	…	7,501	8,756	9,481
Total	…	7,637	8,908	9,664

Each death due to an accident is counted as a fatal accident. The requirements of the Factory Act as to the reporting and registering of such accidents are enforced in the same way as other requirements of the Act; lists are kept of all employers engaged in carrying on the processes in question, and frequent visits are paid to docks, wharves, and quays, and to ships loading and unloading. The increase shown in the last three years is probably due partly to activity in trade and partly to better reporting. The accidents are classified from time to time in the annual reports of the chief inspector of factories (see Table 15, page 301, of the Annual Report for 1911). An elaborate analysis of the accidents in the East London district for the last five years appears on pages 12 and 13 of the Annual Report for 1912.

asked the Postmaster-General whether he is aware that the installation of the telephone at Eastchurch, Isle of Sheppey, has not yet been carried out; and whether, as the delay is causing inconvenience, he can arrange for the work to be completed at. an early date?

I hope that it will be possible to begin work on the Eastchurch Exchange in a fortnight. The work will then take about six weeks to complete. I regret that in consequence of the abnormal amount of new construction work now in hand the extension cannot be carried out sooner.