asked the Secretary to the Treasury if he will state the estimated total amount of transfer values of members resident in Scotland of the Prudential approved society for men; the Prudential approved society for women; and the National Amalgamated Society?

No record of the ages of members of approved societies is at present in the hands of the Commissioners, and no tables of transfer values have yet been prepared.

asked the Postmaster-General whether he is in a position to inform the House that final arrangements for payment to sub-postmasters for insurance work have now been made, and that they have been received with general satisfaction by those to whom they are due; and, if not, whether he can undertake that the matter shall be properly dealt with before the House rises?

asked the Postmaster-General whether he will, before the end of the Session, announce what payment is to be made to postmasters and postmistresses in respect of work done under the National Insurance Act?

This must depend upon the date when the Report of the Select Committee is received. As I have already stated, the Treasury are unwilling to sanction any scale until they have had an opportunity of considering any recommendations which may form part of that Report.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has yet received and considered the proposals of the Irish Government regarding paper-promoted teachers in Ireland; what is the number of teachers affected and the annual cost of their proposals; and what steps he proposes to take in dealing with the matter?

I understand that the Irish Government is in correspondence with the Commissioners of National Education and the Treasury in the matter, and until a decision has been reached it is not practicable to make any further statement on the subject.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the actuaries have yet reported regarding the pension fund of Irish national teachers, and, if so, to what effect; what progress has been made with regard to the new scheme; whether all teachers at present in receipt of pensions will be entitled to the benefits of the new scheme; and whether teachers who had given from twenty to twenty-five years' service, but had to resign owing to ill-health and without any pension, will have their cases specially considered?

The answer to the first part of the question is in the negative, but I am informed that the actuaries hope to complete their investigation shortly. Pending the receipt of their Report, I am unable to express any opinion on the points raised in the latter part of the question.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland what was the initial salary paid to the two teachers who completed a two years' course of training in 1900 and were appointed to schools with averages varying from thirty to fifty, and were awarded a higher rate of salary than £56 per annum; whether, if any of the twenty-seven teachers who completed a two years' course the same year and were appointed to similar schools would produce documentary evidence that they had a promise of a school prior to their entrance to a training college, the Commissioners of National Education would now favourably consider their claims; and whether he will state what exceptional circumstances entitled those two teachers to special consideration?

The Commissioners of National Education inform me that the initial salary paid to the two teachers referred to was £75 and £77. In the case of these two teachers the strict application of the rules in force in 1901–2 would, in the judgment of the Commissioners, have operated inequitably, and they were, under the powers then possessed by the Board, specially considered. The production of the documentary evidence referred to would not warrant further consideration of the cases of the twenty-seven other teachers mentioned in the question.

asked the Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture (Ireland) whether the Development Commissioners have been recommended by the Department to acquire certain lands suitable for forestry in county Waterford; whether negotiations for the acquisition of the same are proceeding; and, if not, whether the Department will consider the advisability of taking some steps towards afforestation in county Waterford?

The Development Commissioners have approved of the Department's purchasing an area of about 1,000 acres in county Waterford for afforestation, provided the lands can be obtained on suitable terms. The Department have opened negotiations with the vendors.

asked particulars of the recommendations made by the Irish Government to the Treasury regarding paper-promoted teachers in Ireland?

The Irish Government is in correspondence with the Commissioners of National Education and the Treasury on the matter, and until a decision has been reached it is not practicable to make any further statement on the subject.

asked what is the nature and the aid given by the Congested Districts Board to the Donegal fishermen at Downing's Bay; and if this aid includes assistance in the sale and marketing of fish?

The Congested Districts Board assist fishermen at Downings and other fishing centres in their administrative district by supplying boats and gear on the loan and share systems. The Board's officers at Downings sell by public auction all fish landed at that port from their share boats, and a deduction of 2½ per cent. is made from the earnings to be divided among the crews for this service. Crews who have purchased their boats, either by loan or by the operation of the share system, are free to avail of this opportunity of disposing of their catches on the same terms.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he is aware that Marine officers who entered the service prior to January, 1912, while serving ashore in future may be drawing considerably less pay than officers junior to them who entered since January, 1912; and whether he proposes to take any steps to remedy this position?

The fact is as stated in the first part of the question. As regards the second part, the matter will receive consideration in due course, when the details of the Army scheme have been settled.

asked the Home Secretary the number of inspectors and assistant inspectors, male and female, by whom 90,000 factories and 140,000 workshops were visited in 1912?

Excluding the special inspectors, who would usually visit in the company of an ordinary inspector, the factories and workshops were visited by 118 men inspectors, 17 women Inspectors, and 53 assistants.

asked why it is that from 1892 to 1912 the number of persons employed in factories and workshops is given for the years 1895, 1897, 1904, and 1907, but not for any other of the years during that period; and if he can state approximately the number of persons employed in factories and workshops in the year 1912?

There was no power before 1895 to obtain returns of employment. In my previous answer, to which my hon. Friend is referring, I gave the figures for all the years between 1895 and the present time for which figures in regard to both factories and workshops were issued except 1896. The figure for the year 1896 was 4,398,983. The figures for 1912 are not yet tabulated.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will give a copy of the letter, dated 11th October, 1912, from the Colonial Office to Messrs. Lever Brothers, which has been omitted from the correspondence officially published?

No letter was written to Messrs. Lever Brothers on the 11th of October. One was written, however, to their solicitors assenting to the retention of the words "extraction and or" in the original draft form of licence printed on pages 34, 35, and 36 of Cd. 6561, as follows:—"Downing Street.11th October. 1912.Gentlemen,—I am directed by Mr. Secretary Harcourt to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 24th ultimo, on the subject of the Concession which it is proposed to grant to Messrs. Lever Brothers in the Sierra Leone Protectorate.Mr. Harcourt is at present awaiting a communication from the Government of Sierra Leone with regard to the draft instruments, and he will address you further as soon as this in received. I am to state, however, that on further consideration the Secretary of State is prepared to amend the draft licence so that it may confer 'the exclusive right to erect power mills and machinery for the extraction and/or expression of oil from the palm fruit.'—I am, etc. (Signed) G. V. FIDDES.Messrs. Simpson, North, Harley and Company."

asked the Secretary for the Colonies whether his attention has been called to the trial in April last of certain Masai at Mau, British East Africa., for taking cattle outside their reserve for the purpose of obtaining salt; whether four of the twenty-six men condemned were dead at time of the trial; whether the fine of ten bullocks each levied on them and their heirs has been insisted upon; and whether he proposes to take any action in the matter?

I have no information on the subject, but I will make inquiry of the Governor.

asked the Secretary for Scotland if he is able to state the places of origin of the trawlers convicted of illegal trawling in the Moray Firth since the 15th April, 1912?

The nationalities of the trawlers convicted of illegal trawling in the Moray Firth since 15th April, 1912, are as follows: British, 9 (whereof 7 registered at Aberdeen, 1 at Glasgow, and 1 at Grimbsy); Norweigan, 4; Danish, 1 (on two occasions); Swedish, 1; German, 1.

asked the Secretary for Scotland whether he has any reliable information to the effect that prize-firing in the Moray Firth and elsewhere is having the effect of causing the fish to leave these waters?

The Fishery Board for Scotland have no information that gun-firing in the Moray Firth or elsewhere is having the effect suggested. I may add that the matter was the subject of inquiry by the Board in 1908, and that the information then obtained did not support the theory.

asked the Secretary for Scotland if he has any information in his possession as to rentals of small holdings in Scotland being arranged recently by private arbitration rather than by recourse to the Land Court; and, if so, what percentage of reduction has been made by the arbiter?

It is believed to be correct that after the Land Court have visited a district and fixed fair rents or equitable rents, as the case might be, landlords and tenants have referred the revision of other rents to arbitration on the lines laid down by the Small Landholders Act, but I have no official information as to the reductions made.

asked the Secretary for Scotland when the Land Court proposes to again hold sittings in Caithness?

The Land Court have already held sittings in Caithness in May, September, and October, 1912, and disposed of all the cases then ready for hearing. Certain urgent cases were heard in May, 1913, and disposed of. The Court cannot yet fix a date for the next sittings in Caithness in view of the claims of other districts.

asked the Secretary for Scotland how many holdings of from 1 acre to 50 acres in extent there are in Scotland, and the number situated in each county?

The number of agricultural holdings exceeding 1 acre and not exceeding 50 acres of arable land and permanent pasture in Scotland and in each county, as returned on 4th June, 1912, was as follows:—

asked the Prime Minister whether, in view of the dissatisfaction with their condition of life which prevails among the farm servants in Scotland, he could see his way to appoint a Commission to inquire into the causes of their grievances and the suggestion of reforms for their benefit?

The question of improving rural conditions of life is receiving the careful consideration of the Government. I do not think that there is any necessity for appointing a special Commission for Scotland.

asked the President of the Local Government Board how many tuberculosis officers receive salaries of £500 or over per annum, how many receive salaries between £400 and £500, how many salaries between £300 and £400, and how many receive salaries below £300 per annum?

So far as the information in the Board's possession shows, forty-seven of the tuberculosis officers already appointed receive salaries of £500 or over per annum, twenty-two receive salaries between £400 and £500, eighteen receive salaries between £300 and £400, and one a salary below £300. The latter is an assistant tuberculosis officer.

also asked the President of the Local Government Board if he will give the number of men and women in Burnley who have received old age pensions in each of the years since the Act came into operation and the total amount paid in each year?

I fear that the information asked for by the hon. Member is not available, but the number of old age pensioners resident in the county borough of Burnley, on the last Friday in March, 1912, was 1,286 (494 men and 792 women). The number of pensioners in each county and county borough area of the United Kingdom, on the last Friday in March, 1913, will appear in the forthcoming Report of the Board of Customs and Excise for 1912–13, together with a rough estimate of the amount paid by way of pensions in each area during that year.

asked the Member for St. George's-in-the-East, as representing the First Commissioner of Works, if he will ascertain how many public buildings costing more than £15,000 have been designed by the permanent staff of the Office of Works since 1906, including only such buildings as have been built, are under construction, or have been sanctioned by the Government to be constructed; and if he will give a list of these buildings?

I am sending the hon. Member a list of fifty-three buildings, which shall be printed with the Votes and Proceedings.

asked the Postmaster-General whether, as so much stress is laid by the advisers of the Department on the undesirability of delay in the construction of the wireless chain, he will give more precise reasons for the decision at which they have arrived; and will he indicate whether these are scientific, commercial, or strategical, and in each case under what circumstances they arise?

This question raises issues far too large to admit of answer within the limits of a Parliamentary reply. The points have been dealt with frequently in Debate, and in the evidence of the naval and military authorities before the Select Committee, and I shall be glad to deal with them again in the course of the forthcoming discussion in this House.

also asked whether Clause 21 indicates that there is any doubt whatever as to the validity of any of the Marconi patents, and, if so, what they are; and whether the point has been raised at any time in the course of the negotiations, and, if so, in what way?

The answer to both parts of the question is in the negative. The clause is inserted as an additional safeguard.

next asked the Postmaster-General whether, as the proposed contract for the Imperial wireless service will be one for six stations, he will take steps to insert a clause in that contract which will enable him to safeguard himself against any claim in respect of the second paragraph of clause 2 due to the fact that the contractors may inform him that it is better for them in preparing certain parts of the equipment and apparatus to prepare for the whole six stations, so that, in the event of the Marconi Company not being called upon to complete the second portion of the contract, they will not be entitled to claim in respect of apparatus prepared for the second three stations?

The company are required to give notice before incurring any expenditure on any of the second three stations so as to enable the Postmaster-General if he so desires to exercise his option to cancel the agreement so far as it applies to those stations or any of them. The consideration raised by the hon. Member would, of course, be borne in mind.

further asked the Postmaster-General whether he will grant to other wireless inventors who may suspect that their patents are being infringed in a Government station the same opportunities of obtaining independent inspection of such installation as is accorded to the Marconi Company in paragraph 19 of the agreement, as it is generally known that what are described as secret inventions in wireless telegraphy are usually merely the secret use of adaptations of the property of other patentees?

Any such application would be considered on its merits if and when the occasion arose.

asked the Postmaster-General what is the cause of the delay in filling the vacant overseerships in the Cork postal and telegraph offices; and will he, when making appointments, give due consideration to the claims or senior officers?

I will make inquiry on the subject and communicate with the hon. Member.

asked what is the cause of the delay in bringing the proposed revision of the Cork Post Office into effect; and when the revision will be sanctioned?

I am making inquiry and will write to the hon. Member.