asked the Secretary to the Treasury whether his attention has been drawn to the annual Report of the medical officer of health for the borough of Stepney, in which he states that the scheme for the treatment of tuberculosis under the National Insurance Act has not worked well; whether the Stepney insurance sub-committee has required applicants to go to a West End doctor for examination before treatment; whether they have been required to produce insurance cards to their detriment and loss of employment; and if 90 per cent. of the insured persons who are considered by their own doctors to be consumptive have not applied for sanatorium benefit?

The Report in question relates only to the temporary arrangements which were in operation during the period from 15th July to 31st December last. These arrangements have undergone considerable modification since the beginning of the year, and the difficulties have in consequence been diminished. An insured person has to be recommended for institutional treatment by the expert medical adviser at Fitzroy Square, but he can receive domiciliary or dispensary treatment without visiting the medical adviser on the recommendation of the doctor from whom he is receiving treatment under the Act. An applicant for sanatorium benefit was asked to forward his insurance card in order that the committee might be satisfied that he was an insured person and eligible for sanatorium benefit, but it was definitely stated that on the application form that members of approved societies who were unable to forward their insurance books or cards should obtain a statement from their society as to the number of contributions standing to their credit. I do not know what authority there is for the statement referred to in the last part of the question.

May I ask the right hon. Gentleman to answer the question whether they have been required to produce insurance cards to their detriment and loss of employment?

I think the hon. Gentleman will find the answer to that embodied in the reply I have given.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury out of what fund the chemists are paid for medicines supplied to persons suffering from tuberculosis and receiving sanatorium benefit in the form of domiciliary treatment under the National Insurance Act; and what steps are taken to secure that they are not paid out of the Drug Fund for medical benefit?

The cost of medicines supplied to insured persons in receipt of domiciliary treatment for tuberculosis is payable out of the Sanatorium Benefit Fund. With regard to the second part of the question, the Commissioners have suggested that special prescription forms should be used, or alternatively that the ordinary prescription forms should bear the words "Sanatorium Benefit," or some other distinctive mark, in order to avoid the possibility of the cost of the items ordered thereon being charged to the Medical Benefit Fund.

Is there not great danger of the two being confused?

It is because of that danger that the Commissioners have suggested this special arrangement.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury when the Bill for dealing with the serious state of affairs in the Highlands and Islands would be brought forward; if provision will be made for payment of travelling expenses of members of insurance committees where no possible levy would be adequate for that purpose; and if the Bill obtains a Second Reading, in view of the fact that the time of the Scottish Grand Committee is fully taken up with the Mental Deficiency and Lunacy (Scotland) Bill, will he consider taking the Committee Stage in the House?

I hope that the Bill to provide a Grant for improving the medical service in the Highlands and Islands will be introduced this week. The question of the travelling expenses of members of insurance committees is under consideration, but it would not, I am afraid, come within the scope of the Bill. The Committee stage of the Bill is clearly more suitable for discussion in the Scottish Grand Committee than in the whole House. The Bill will be very short, and, I believe, non-controversial in character.

Will the right hon. Gentleman assure us that every effort will be made to get the Bill passed this Session?

Every effort we can make will be made, and I hope we will receive the assistance of the Scottish Members.

asked whether under the National Insurance Act, as it is proposed to be amended by the Government, it is their intention that every member, whatever his age, who was previous to 15th July, 1912, on the books of a friendly society which becomes an approved society, and who is not insured under the Act, shall receive the State Grant of 2s. 6d.?

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply which I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Perth on Thursday last.

asked the Prime Minister whether, having regard to the number of persons affected and to the varied and diversified effects of the National Insurance Act, 1911, in different constituencies and upon different classes of persons, he will grant a second day for the discussion on the Second Reading of the National insurance Act (1911) Amendment Bill?

No, Sir, I am not prepared to give a second day.

asked whether, in view of the time likely to be taken by the proceedings on the private Bill on Tuesday, whether further time will be given for the Second Reading of the National Insurance Act (1911) Amendment Bill?

I understand that the private Bill referred to is postponed.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury whether he is aware that there is some confusion in the practice of approved societies in respect of Sunday counting as one of the three waiting days for sickness benefit; and whether he will make a plain statement on the subject and have it circulated to approved societies?

I informed the hon. Member for the Wilton Division on Thursday last that I was aware that some difficulties have arisen in connection with the application of Section 8 (1) (c) of the National Insurance Act, and that if he would suggest an Amendment which he thinks would meet these difficulties, it would receive careful consideration. I do not consider that any circular to societies is desirable at the moment.

asked if the Insurance Commissioners are yet in a position to arrange for half-yearly cards to be given to those who wish to have them; and if there are any grave reasons why they cannot arrange this, seeing that this is advocated by some friendly societies?

The subject of a six months' card has been under careful consideration, and is very strongly pressed by representatives of approved societies. It would involve an alteration in the Arrears Section of the Act which makes the rate of sickness benefit dependent upon average arrears since entry into insurance. The subject would be appropriate for discussion on the Insurance Act Amendment Bill.

asked the Postmaster-General if he has now considered the representations made to him from all parties in the House with reference to supplying insurance stamps in the convenient form adopted by him in the case of postage stamps; and, in coming to a decision on the subject, will he take into consideration the advantage that postmasters in a small way of business will secure?

asked the Postmaster-General whether he has considered the application from Members from all parts of the House for the issue of insurance stamps in book form as in the case of ½d. and 1d. stamps; if so, whether he will state whether he is prepared to grant the request; and, if so, when they will be issued to the public?

I am still in communication with the National Health Insurance Joint Committee on this subject. No decision has been reached.

asked what method the Court of Inland Revenue Commissioners, at which appeals from local assessors are considered, is constituted in Scotland; who is responsible for calling it together; has he any option as to whether he shall call all the local Commissioners to the Court or does he call as many as he thinks proper and whomsoever of the Commissioners that e desires; is any quorum necessary before decisions can be come to; if so, what is the quorum; and is there any case on record where such Court has differed from the views of the local assessors?

There is no "Court of Inland Revenue Commissioners" in Scotland, but if the hon. Member refers to the General or District Commissioners of Taxes acting for the various Divisions in Scotland, the answers to his questions are as follows: The Commissioners are appointed from the Land Tax Commissioners under the provisions of 5 and 6 Vict., c. 35, sec. 4, or by the Commissioners of Supply under Section 7 of the Customs and Inland Revenue Act, 1893. Arrangements for meetings in each division are made by the Commissioners themselves through their clerk, appointed by them and acting under their direction. The statutory minimum for a quorum is two Commissioners. There are many cases on record where the General Commissioners have differed from the views of the local assessors.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether, in view of the fact that clerks in the railway passenger department do not enjoy a weeky half-holiday, he will consider the desirability of introducing legislation to confer upon these clerks this privilege, which is enjoyed by all other branches of clerical workers?

My right hon. Friend has asked me to reply to this question. The hours and holidays of clerical workers are not regulated by Statute at present, and I am afraid I cannot hold out any immediate prospect of legislation in the direction suggested in the question.

Will the right hon. Gentleman approach the railway companies with the object of getting a half-holiday for these men?

I am afraid that is a question which should be addressed to my right hon. Friend. [An HON. MEMBER: "Where is he?"]

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether his attention has been called to a case at the Old Street Police Court, on 8th July, in which one Blackburn is alleged to have engaged, through the medium of the Camden Town Labour Exchange, Miss Jessie Gardiner to collect funds for a charity as to the bona fides of which some doubt was expressed in court; whether it is customary to secure the addresses of employers seeking workpeople at the Exchanges; and whether instructions have been issued to the Labour Exchange staff not to assist the police authorities in prosecuting inquiries?

My attention has been drawn to a newspaper report of the case in question. I understand that Miss Gardiner was engaged by Mr. Blackburn through the Camden Town Labour Exchange. The addresses of employers seeking workpeople are obtained in the ordinary course. As regards the last part of the question, information obtained by Labour Exchange officials in the course of their duties is, in the interests, both of employers and workpeople, regarded as confidential, and is not, in ordinary circumstances, communicated to third parties. It has been usual to make an exception to this rule in the case of inquiries received from the police, but in order to ensure that information is not given to unauthorised persons, Labour Exchange managers have been instructed that it may only be given in response to a written request from a responsible officer of police. The above instructions were observed by the Labour Exchange manager in the present case.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether his advisers on colour blindness only consist of those who have advocated the wool test; and, if so, now that this test has been shown to be so defective, whether he will consider the advisability of adding to his advisers someone with knowledge and experience of the lantern test?

My right hon. Friend has no reason whatever to think that his advisers have not the knowledge and experience necessary to enable them to advise on the lantern test which has been adopted on the recommendation of the recent Sight Tests Committee, of which two of them were members.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury whether his attention has been called to the position that has arisen under the Small Dwellings Acquisition Act, 1899, in which it is stated that loans may be advanced under the Act, and that such loans must be repaid within a period of thirty years or any lesser period subject to Treasury regulations; whether loans under the Act for £200 and over have been granted to the county borough council of Limerick for periods varying from thirty to twenty-five years; whether a loan of £176 is now being sought for, and the Board of Works (Ireland) have written, under date 25th June, 1913, stating that, in accordance with Treasury regulations, a period of ten years only could be allowed for repayment of a loan of less than £200; if this is so, will the thrifty working man be prevented from purchasing his dwelling-house; and whether, under those circumstances, the Treasury regulations dealing with the ten years' period will be annulled and the payments to be made on the thirty or twenty-five years' period, and thus carry out the spirit and intention of the Act, so that the humbler classes of the community may be enabled to take advantage of the Act under reasonable conditions?

The ten years' limit is not insisted upon in the case of loans for the purposes of the Small Dwellings Acquisition Act if the Local Government Board, having regard to the character of the particular building to be acquired recommend a longer period not exceeding thirty years. I understand that further inquiry is being made by the Local Government Board as to the appropriate period in the case to which the hon. Member refers.

asked the Postmaster-General if he will lay upon the Table the full correspondence, if any, which has passed between the British representative of the Goldschmidt system and the Post Office?

I will lay the correspondence in question, together with other Papers, upon the Table at an early date.

asked the Postmaster-General whether he will invite tenders for the Imperial wireless chain, based on a guaranteed minimum standard of efficiency, to be laid down by the Post Office, and to be approved by the House of Commons?

The Scientific Advisory Committee, over which Lord Parker presided, reported in April last, after full investigation, that the Marconi system was the only system of which it could be said with any certainty that it was capable of fulfilling the requirements of the Imperial chain; and that the Marconi Company alone had practical experience of the sort of long distance work required. Nothing has since occurred so far as I can ascertain to invalidate this conclusion. The representatives of the Goldschmidt system accepted the invitation of the Parker Committee to demonstrate the working of their system, but only over a distance of 382 nautical miles, between Hanover and Slough. Members of the Committee were in attendance at Hanover, and engineers were sent to Slough to watch the tests, but the demonstrators did not succeed in transmitting any intelligible communication of any kind. On seeing the paragraphs recently sent by the company to the Press to the effect that they had established communication between Hanover and Tuckerton in the United States, I at once asked the company to allow the demonstrations to be witnessed by officers of the Post Office and the Admiralty, but the company have replied that they are not in a position to give any demonstrations until the first week in August. In the circumstances I do not propose to invite tenders for the work. The course suggested by the hon. Member would make it impossible to obtain the sanction of the House of Commons to any contract this Session, and would involve a delay of at least another nine months, and probably a year before work on the stations could actually be begun. I am, however, pointing out to the company what under certain conditions the erection of the second three stations of the Imperial chain will be transferred from the original contractors to any others whose system may be proved to be more efficient or more economical. If such proof is forthcoming in the case of the Goldschmidt system within the next few months, I should be very glad to consider the employment of that system for some or all of those stations.

Is the right hon. Gentleman taking advantage of the suggested demonstration at the beginning of August?

Yes, whenever they are illing to give me a demonstration, I am informing them that I shall be most happy to send officers to witness it.

In the event of that demonstration proving that they are able to telegraph 3,600 miles, will it then be too late to give them an opportunity of tendering for the whole of the stations?

In the first place it is necessary for them to show that they are able to maintain an effective continuous service, and not merely that a few experiments on any particular days are successful. In any case I am afraid that as Parliament, we hope, may rise in the middle of August, any definite postponement until after tests are made in the first week of August would mean that the House could hardly then deal with it?

Is it not possible to allow them to tender subject to guarantees, and if these guarantees are not carried out, the matter could be dealt with?

No. I do not want guarantees. I want stations that will work.

Is it a fact that several years elapsed after the Marconi Company had communicated across the Atlantic before they established a commercial service?

asked whether the Universal Radio Syndicate, Limited, have recently asked for permission to tender for the installation of the Poulsen system in the stations of the Imperial Chain; and whether such permission has been granted?

I received on Saturday last a request from the Syndicate to be allowed to tender. In reply to the second part of the question I would refer the hon. Member to the answers given on the 10th instant to the questions asked by the hon. and gallant Member for the Western Division of Hampshire and by the hon. Member for Newcastle-on-Tyne in which I explained why the Government is not calling for tenders.

asked the Postmaster-General whether he is aware of any intention to transmit messages from a Marconi station in Norway to America viâ the United Kingdom; whether it is intended that the proposed post office station at Aberdeen, or any other British Government station, should be utilised in connection with such service; and whether there is any proposal or arrangement by which the British Government will receive royalties or other payments from the Marconi Company or from the Norwegian Government in connection with such service?

No such proposal has been considered and no arrangement of any kind made.

Do I understand that no British stations will be used?

We have had no communication from the Norwegian Government on the subject of any sort or kind. No such proposal has been made.

Is it proposed to establish another station near Aberdeen?

Yes. That is in contemplation.

asked the Postmaster-General whether he is aware that in August last year, when he was endeavouring to secure the ratification of the Marconi contract, the Postmaster-General of Canada entered into an agreement with the representative of the Poulsen system in England for a Transatlantic service between Great Britain and Canada; whether he was aware of the negotiations at that time; and, if so, will he state the reasons for not communicating them to the House; and whether he had any communication with the Postmaster-General of Canada at that time with regard to the same; and, if so, will he state the nature of such communication?

The hon. Member is under a misapprehension. The agreement between the Canadian Postmaster-General and the representatives of the Poulsen system was entered into in April of this year and not in August of last year. Mr. Pelletier, who was in England last August, informed me of negotiations in which he was then engaged, but it would then have been obviously improper for me to have communicated to the House negotiations to which I was not a party, which had no relevance to the proposals I had laid before Parliament, and which were still proceeding between the Canadian Postmaster-General and a commercial syndicate. I would add that the Canadian agreement which was signed in April is of a wholly different character from that proposed for the erection of stations for the Imperial Wireless Chain. The Imperial Stations are to be State-owned, but the Canadian Government does not propose to employ the Poulsen Company to erect any station to be owned and worked by that Government. The station is to be erected by the Poulsen Company at their own cost; it will remain the property of the company unless purchased by the Canadian Government at a price to be fixed by arbitration; and it will be worked by the company with their own staff for their own profit and at their own risk. The obligations upon the Poulsen Company under the agreement are to erect stations within a specified period and to transmit telegrams at rates not exceeding specified maxima. The obligations upon the Canadian Government are to grant the necessary licences, to secure certain exemptions from the Canadian Patent Laws relating to the manufacture of apparatus outside Canada, and to take such measures as are in its power to facilitate the transmission of the Company's telegrams over the land lines belonging to the Canadian Telegraph Companies.

Has any guarantee been given by this company to the Canadian Government as regards their contract?

There is a guarantee.

What is it?

I should like notice of that.

Had the right hon. Gentleman any official correspondence with Mr. Pelletier at that time?

Yes; some communications passed with regard to this proposal.

Will the right hon. Gentleman consider that the treating of these communications as confidential goes a long way to impair the control of this House over matters of national importance; and will he lay the correspondence on the Table, as in the case of the Goldschmidt correspondence?

No, Sir; the correspondence has no relation at all to the proposal for the erection of an Imperial wireless chain, and it was never proposed to conduct a Transatlantic service. My correspondence with Mr. Pelletier consisted largely of criticisms of certain proposals in his intended or contemplated agreement with the Poulsen syndicate, which proposals have since disappeared from the arrangement with the Canadian Government. I certainly could not publish any correspondence without the consent of Mr. Pelletier.

Would not the correspondence throw light on the merits of the respective systems?

No Sir; none at all.

asked the Postmaster-General whether the results of the experiments between Arlington, Virginia, and the United States steamship "Salem," and between Arlington and Gibraltar, using both the arc and spark transmission, which are referred to in paragraph 19 of the report of the Advisory Committee, have been embodied by Dr. Austin, the head scientific adviser of the United States naval wireless service, in a Report to the effect that for distances of 1,400 miles and upwards the arc system, which is the Poulsen system, using less than half the current radiated by the spark system, was equal to or somewhat better than the spark, and at distances exceeding 2,100 miles in the day time the arc was uniformly louder than the spark; if so, whether he will furnish a copy of such Report to Members of the House; and whether he is aware that after the receipt of Dr. Austin's Report the United States Government awarded the contract for the Panama station, which is to have a range of 3,000 miles, to the American Poulsen Company?

I have not seen Dr. Austin's Report on the experiments in question, and I am not aware that it has been published. A copy was asked for by my inspector of wireless telegraphy, but was not sent. The general results of the experiments were before the Scientific Advisory Committee when they made their Report, and they were not such as to lead the Committee to conclude that the Poulsen system was capable of fulfilling the requirements of the Imperial Chain. I have no official information as regards the contract for the Panama Station, but am making inquiries.

asked whether the Postmaster-General will give the names of his Special Committee to which he submitted in 1912 the terms for the Marconi Contract which has since lapsed; whether he has submitted to this Special Committee the terms of the second Marconi Contract which he has now laid before the House, and, if so, the date on which this meeting took place; if this Special Committee has also considered the altered circumstances occasioned by the success of the Goldschmidt Company in establishing Transatlantic communication as foreshadowed by the Advisory Committee of Experts; in that case, will he state what the Report of the Special Committee was; and, if not, will he convoke that body and lay the facts before them before entering into any contract for the wireless chain which will definitely bind the House and the country, despite the existence of a different system which has succeeded in sending messages over a far greater distance and under more difficult conditions?

The gentlemen who attended meetings of the Committee which advised me in the course of the negotiations with the Marconi Company prior to the acceptance of their tender in March, 1912, were the High Commissioners of South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand; Captain Muirhead Collins, Official Secretary to the Australian Commonwealth Office; Admiral Charlton, Lieutenant R. Fitzmaurice, Captain M. Fitzmaurice, Captain Hope, Mr. Madge, Mr. Minter, from the Admiralty; Mr. Johnson, from the Colonial Office; Sir Henry Kirk, from the India Office; Mr. Wilkins, from the Treasury; Colonel Macdonogh and Major Seaman, from the War Office; and Sir Alexander King, Mr. Farnall, Mr. De Wardt, Commander Loring, and Mr. Taylor, from the Post Office. The actual terms of the proposed contract were submitted to the various Departments of which these gentlemen were the representatives, and to the High Commissioner for South Africa, and were the subject of official correspondence and conferences during several months. They were not laid before the Committee as a body, as the precise wording of the terms of a contract can be better settled by correspondence and by separate conferences than at the meetings of a large Committee. The same course is being adopted with respect to the terms of the new contract. As I have stated in answer to a previous question, the Company which is experimenting with the Goldschmidt system have not acceded to my request to allow the communication across the Atlantic which they claim to have established to be demonstrated at once in the presence of technical advisers of the Post Office and Admiralty. In these circumstances it would be useless to convene a meeting of any Committee to consider claims which are not substantiated by official inspection.

May I ask how many days ago it is that the right hon. Gentleman asked for this demonstration—how many days' notice they considered sufficient?

The experiments took place on the 3rd and 4th July. The company communicated to me on 5th July the fact that these experiments had been made. I wrote to them, I think, on 6th or 7th, asking that demonstrations should be made before my officers at the earliest possible date. A telegram was sent on the following day, and another letter was sent two or three days afterwards. Two or three days ago, I think on Saturday, I received a letter from the company saying that they were not in a position to give any demonstration until August.

Is it not the fact that excepting the Marconi organisation, none of the other firms mentioned, either Poulsen or Goldschmidt, have got the necessary equipment in existence to enable them to carry out the Imperial wireless chain, and, if the contract were given to either, would it not entail, for that reason, very considerable delay?

My information is to that effect. Of course, they may be able to enlist the necessary staff.

With regard to the last part of the question, is it not the case that the statement that, by the Goldschmidt system, messages have been sent "over a far greater distance and under more difficult conditions," rests entirely on an ex-party statement?

So far as I am aware, it rests entirely upon Dr. Goldschmidt's statement.

asked the Postmaster-General whether his attention has been drawn to a ease tried at the Warwick Assizes on 7th July, and to the comments of Mr. Justice Darling on the new practice of the postal authorities of engaging temporary assistance through the Labour Exchanges without first verifying references; and whether he will take steps to terminate this danger to the public who entrust valuables to his Department for transmission?

asked if Mr. Buzzard, K.C., who prosecuted for the Post Office in a recent case at Warwick, stated that, under the recent rules, all temporary postal servants must be engaged through Labour Exchanges, and thus the Government were deprived of the services of many respectable men who would not apply through these Exchanges; that even if the police saw improper characters wearing a postal badge they could not interfere, because they presumed that the Post Office had made the necessary inquiries; have circulars to this effect been issued to postmasters; and will he explain how such instructions will ensure the most reliable men for the Post Office service?

As I stated in reply to the hon. Member for West St. Pancras, on the 10th July, it never has been and it is not the practice for men to be engaged as temporary postal servants without the taking up of references. The rule is that at least two, and generally four, references should be taken up, and should be verified by direct personal inquiry. In former years this was done by officials of the Post Office. Last winter arrangements were made between the Post Office and the Board of Trade by which it should be done by officials of the Labour Exchanges, on exactly the same lines as those previously adopted. The arrangement provided that the results of the inquiries, including the replies of the referees, should be submitted to the local postmasters to guide them in making their final selection among the applicants. During last winter nearly 40,000 men were engaged, under this arrangement, through the Labour Exchanges. In the particular cases referred to, where two temporary postal servants were prosecuted at Warwick, only one of the men, by name Partridge, was in fact engaged through the Labour Exchange. I am informed that in his case the arrangement was not fully carried out, as, in response to an urgent demand for men from the local postmaster, he was sent up from the Exchange before replies had been received from his referees. I am considering, in consultation with my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade, what steps are necessary to prevent any local departures from the arrangements in the future. With reference to certain statements which the counsel for the prosecution is reported to have made in the case referred to, there is no truth in the state- ment that the new arrangement between the Board of Trade and the Post Office prevents the police from communicating either to the Post Office or to the Board of Trade any information as to the character of persons whom they see to be acting as temporary postmen. I have no reason to believe there is any foundation for the other statement made by him that, as a result of the arrangement, the Government were deprived of the services of respectable men or that respectable men would not apply through the Exchanges. Counsel appears to have misunderstood the information given by the Post Office representative in the Court. Reports received as to the working of the new system show that, taking the country as a whole, a better class of labour was secured last year than in the previous year.

asked what steps, if any, the Government propose to take to inquire into the use of British troops on the Rand and their action there?

As I have already informed the House, I am expecting a full Report from Lord Gladstone on the occurrences on the Rand.

Why should British troops be used for shooting miners on the Rand for making speeches less inflammatory than those which have been made in Belfast by Privy Councillors?

asked the Prime Minister whether he will grant time for a discussion of the Motion with reference to the action of Lord Gladstone in authorising the use of British troops in South Africa standing in the name of the hon. Member for Merthyr?

I am not prepared to give facilities for the discussion of this Motion from the time at the disposal of the Government.

Is no attention to be paid to the resolutions which have been passed in South Africa and in this country protesting against the action of Lord Gladstone, and is the right hon. Gentleman aware that unless time is given for some form of Motion the question cannot be discussed in this House, which means the burking of what has taken place?

That is not the case at all. There will be several opportunities for discussing it.

When will the opportunities occur?

Possibly on the Colonial Office Vote, but certainly on the Appropriation Bill.

On the Colonial Office Vote we cannot discuss the action of Lord Gladstone, which is the point at issue.

Until I get a further and fuller indication that it is the general desire of Members to discuss the matter, I am not disposed to give time.

Are we to understand that the minority are not entitled to discuss the matter?

There will be ample opportunity on the Appropriation Bill.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that on two occasions Mr. Speaker refused leave for a Motion for the Adjournment of the House in order to discuss this matter, and on each occasion said that the proper method of procedure was to move a Vote of Censure on Lord Gladstone?

I must have notice of that.

asked the Prime Minister upon what day he will take the Scottish Estimates; and whether he will endeavour to arrange that it is not delayed to the fag end of the Session?

I cannot yet say what day Scottish Estimates will be taken.

asked the Prime Minister whether, in view of the fact that it is not intended to press the Land Purchase (Ireland) Amendment Bill through any of its stages before the prorogation of Parliament, he will grant facilities for a full Debate to take place on its introduction in order that the Government may be informed of Irish opinion on the question?

The Bill, on its introduction, will be put down as the first order for the day, and the evening devoted to its discussion.

asked the Prime Minister whether it is intended to proceed with the Industrial and Provident Societies (Amendment) Bill this Session; and, if so, whether he can name a date?

It is intended to proceed with this Bill in a modified form at an early date, which I cannot yet state.

Before the end of the Session?

Is it intended to pass the measure this Session?

Certainly, if in an agreed form.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will say who has been appointed to succeed the second surveyor in the receiver's department of the Metropolitan Police, who recently retired on a pension of £344 10s. a year; what his previous experience was; what commencing remuneration he receives; and what salary his predecessor had before retirement?

The post of second surveyor has been discontinued under a recent scheme of reorganisation, and the duties, so far as they relate to the maintenance of police buildings, are now discharged by an officer designated principal assistant surveyor. The person appointed to this post is Mr. Thomas Brown. He has had more than twelve years' experience in connection with public buildings, namely, upwards of a year as assistant surveyor to the Croydon School Board, followed by eleven years as master of buildings under the Liverpool School Board, and assistant surveyor under the Education Committee of the Liverpool Corporation. His commencing salary is £350 a year. The second surveyor's salary at retirement was £530 a year.

In view of the duties to be performed and the qualifications necessary, does not the right hon. Gentleman consider the commencing salary very inadequate?

I will consider any representation the hon. Member may make.

asked the Home Secretary if he will say how much per day the increase of pay granted this year to the temporary clerks of works in the receiver's department of the Metropolitan Police amounts to; and how many years it is since their rate of pay was previously revised?

The increase of salary is five shillings a week, which works out at tenpence a day for the working week of six days. The previous revision was in 1894.

asked the Home Secretary whether any representations have been made by the permanent clerks of works in the receiver's department of the Metropolitan Police in favour of an increase of remuneration; whether their application has been considered and how it has been dealt with, or whether it is now under consideration; and whether any and, if so, what increases have been granted to the surveyor and assistant surveyor since 1907, when the remuneration of the permanent clerks of works was last increased?

Applications by these clerks of works for increased remuneration are now under consideration. Under a recent scheme of reorganisation the salary of the surveyor has been increased by £50 and he will receive a further increment of the same amount in 1916; and the salary of the senior assistant surveyor has been increased by £10 and he will have similar increments for the next four years.

Does that include provision for extra duty?

I think so; but I should like to have notice of the question.

asked the Horne Secretary whether there are any cases of hereditary service in the receiver's department of the Metropolitan Police besides those of the chief surveyor and the son of the late second surveyor?

I do not think the hon. Member can mean to suggest that any appointments in the receiver's office are hereditary in the ordinary sense of the word. If he wishes to know what other instances there are in which sons of persons who have served in the Department now hold appointments in it, the answer is four—two permanent and two temporary.

asked the Home Secretary whether his attention has been drawn to the fact that the Report of His Majesty's Chief Inspector of Factories in 1912 shows that the carrying of grossly excessive weights is widespread and of frequent occurrence; that boys of fifteen in tinplate works carry weights of from 90 to 100 pounds; that women and girls employed in earthenware and china works, rag-sorting works, flax works, aerated water works, stoneware works, brick works, cotton mills, and making-up works, commonly carry weights of 80 pounds, and often weights of 100 pounds; and whether, in view of the injury resulting to workers from this cause, he proposes to introduce legislation to deal with this matter on the lines recommended by the Accidents Committee?

I have seen the passages referred to, but I do not think they are quite accurately summarised in the question. Eighty pounds is mentioned as a usual weight in two only of the industries named. The only direct statutory powers at present possessed by the Department are limited to the case of children under fourteen. By the Employment of Children Bill, now before the House, it is proposed to extend them to persons up to the age of sixteen. The Department is fully alive to the importance of the question, and is taking such action as is possible. In the case of the pottery trade the matter has already been dealt with in the new Regulations, and it has been put forward as one of the subjects for discussion at the series of conferences with employers and employed in different trades which are now being held in accordance with the recommendation of the Accidents Committee. It will be seen from the published Report of the conferences already held that considerable progress has been made in the desired direction. Instructions have also been issued to the certifying surgeons to have regard to the question when examining young persons for employment. The subject is noted for consideration in connection with the next amending Factory Bill, but I cannot say at present when it will be possible to take that up.

Will the right hon. Gentleman make any effort to pass the Employment of Children Bill this Session?

The Noble Lord knows the present state of business in the House as well as I do.

asked the Home Secretary whether his attention has been called to the recent prosecution in Waterford of the manager of a factory called the Glen Laundry; whether, on the defendant being convicted of having obstructed the inspector in the execution of her duties, he was fined 5s., and on pleading guilty to the illegal employment of a girl of fourteen without a certificate of fitness he was fined ld. by the bench of magistrates; and what steps he proposes to take, in view of the inadequacy of such penalties in the case of serious breaches of the law?

I have received a report of this case from the chief inspector of factories. The facts are as stated in the question, but the amount of the penalties is a matter within the discretion of the justices, and I have no power to require them to be increased.

asked the Home Secretary whether the Home Office has at any time issued a circular to magistrates calling their attention to the ineffectiveness of nominal penalties, such as those recently imposed in the Glen Laundry case in Waterford, to maintain respect for the law; and whether, in view of the not infrequent imposition of such penalties, he will cause such a circular to be issued or, if previously issued, to be circulated afresh to magistrates throughout the United Kingdom?

The Department has never, so far as I am aware, issued such a circular, and I do not think it would be advisable to do so.

asked the Home Secretary how many of the three prisoners who, on 24th June, had refused their food, and were being artificially fed, are still persisting in this course and are still undergoing the same treatment; whether he will state the date on which each of these prisoners first refused his food, the date on which each was first artificially fed, the number of times this operation has been performed upon each prisoner, and, if any of these prisoners has abandoned his intention of refusing food, the date on which he again took food naturally; and whether he will state in which prison each of these prisoners is confined?

Two of the three prisoners referred to are still refusing their food and are being forcibly fed; these two first refused food on 21st February and 29th May, and were first forcibly fed on 4th March and the 4th June, respectively; in the one case forcible feeding has taken place 264 times, and in the other ninety-four times. The third prisoner resumed taking his food yesterday, having been on hunger strike since 14th May, and having been forcibly fed 176 times. Two of the prisoners are in Wormwood Scrubs Prison and one in Manchester.

Can the right hon. Gentleman say what is the condition of the health of those prisoners?

The reports are quite favourable.

On prisoners who are not suffragettes has it no ill-effects?

I think it depends very much on the amount of resistance offered.

asked the Home Secretary whether his attention has been called to the fact that the staffs on the restaurant cars of the railway companies are not permitted in many instances the half-day holiday to which they are entitled under the Shops Act; and whether he proposes to amend the Act so as to ensure that all such employés shall enjoy the benefits of the Act?

No representations appear to have been received by my Department on the subject. The question whether restaurant car attendants come within the provisions of the Shops Act raises a point of law on which I cannot undertake to express an opinion; but, in any event, I am afraid I can hold out no prospect of amending legislation in the near future.

Would the right hon. Gentleman write to the railway companies?

I will consult the President of the Board of Trade.

asked the number of children and young persons under eighteen years of age employed in factories, also the number under sixteen?

The last year for which figures are available is 1907. The number of children and young persons under eighteen employed in factories at that time was about 830,000, and it is estimated the number of these under sixteen would be about 420,000. Returns of employment have been collected for 1912, but the figures are not yet available.