asked the Secretary to the Admiralty if the Naval Estimates allow for twenty-four assistant clerks, Royal Navy, for the year 1913–14; it thirty-seven assistant clerks, Royal Navy, have been entered as from last month; what, if any, steps are proposed by the Admiralty to ensure that such of these officers who may survive will ever reach the rank of paymaster, or be compulsorily retired at forty years of age with a pension of £109 per annum; and whether such an entry (thirty-seven), to be followed by another entry in December, is consistent with the prospectus sent to parents and guardians and dated April, 1912.

The Navy Estimates allow for thirty assistant clerks during 1913–14. The entry last month numbered thirty-eight. As regards the third part of the question, the future state of the lists is now engaging the attention of the Board of Admiralty, but it would be premature to indicate what steps must be taken to meet a situation which will not arise for many years. The answer to the last part of the question is in the affirmative.

asked the Secretary to the Admiralty at what date the Admiralty took a feu of the 5í acres of land at Invergordon for oil-storage purposes?

Martinmas, 1911.

asked the President of the Board of Education what qualifications he requires in candidates for junior examinerships as ensuring that they shall be capable of doing, not only the immediate work of junior examiners, but still higher work; what proportion of those appointed are subsequently found capable of doing such higher work; and how many examiners have, in the last ten years, been allowed to resign either before or after their probationary period of two years?

I endeavour to get the very best men who are obtainable at the salaries and with the prospects which employment under the Board offers. A statement of the qualifications of examiners appointed since 1st April, 1900, is printed in Appendix 12 of the second published volume of the. Minutes of Evidence taken by the Royal Commission on the Civil Service [Cd. 6535, 1912]. I am not aware of any cases in which examiners whose appointment was confirmed after the expiry of the probationary period have been found permanently unfit for higher work. The number of examiners on the permanent establishment who have resigned in the last ten years is thirteen, and of these three resigned in the course of their probationary period. In the great majority of cases the resignation had nothing whatever to do with the examiner's competence or incompetence to do higher work, and in some cases they resigned to take up important and highly paid posts outside the office.

also asked the President of the Board of Education what machinery exists in his office for the discovery and encouragement of clerks, both those receiving more than £250 per annum and those receiving less, who are likely to make good examiners; and whether such clerks must necessarily be recommended for promotion by officers to whom they would be senior if those recommendations were successful?

The procedure in this matter is and must remain one of confi- dential consultation with heads of sections and other officers whose experience enable them to form a judgment. The answer to the second part of the question is in the negative, but I am satisfied that there is no reluctance whatever on the part of senior officers in the clerical establishment to recommend their juniors for promotion to the higher staff, and I may say that the reports of senior officers appear to me to deal most generously with the qualifications of their subordinates for promotion.

asked how many vacancies at present exist in the Board of Education in the ranks of staff clerks and minor staff clerks, respectively; how long these vacancies have existed; and when it is anticipated that they will be filled?

There is one vacant staff clerkship and one minor staff clerkship. The former post has been vacant since the 4th October, 1912, and the latter since the 7th March, 1913. I have been in communication with the Treasury as to certain objections which they raised to the filling of the posts, but I hope to be able to make appointments to both before long.

asked the Home Secretary whether his attention has been called to the inconvenience caused to the public in the Metropolis in consequence of a number of vehicles or vans coupled together like a train and drawn by a motor or locomotive passing through the streets; whether he has any power to stop this; and, if so, whether he will exercise such powers?

The use of trailers drawn by motors or locomotives is recognised by Statute and regulated by Orders of the Local Government Board having statutory force. I have no power to interfere.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for India whether a memorial has been submitted to the Governor-General in Council by the late Public Works Accounts Department, which is now amalgamated with the Finance Department; what has been the disposal of such memorial, if submitted; and whether he is aware that the officers of this Department consider that they have a grievance in respect of the promotion or want of promotion they have experienced since the amalgamation?

The Secretary of State has no information as to the submission of such a memorial to the Governor-General in Council since the amalgamation of the Public Works Accounts Department with the Finance Department; nor is he aware of the existence of a grievance such as that to which the hon. Member refers.

asked the Under-Secretary for India whether he has now received the information relative to the case of Umesh Chand, asked for on the 8th May last?

The report for which I asked in May has not yet come. I will communicate with my hon. Friend when I receive it.

asked the President of the Board of Agriculture if he is in a position yet to give a reply to the petition of the residents adjoining the farm at Lythmore, Caithness, to cut peats on this farm?

The matter is under consideration, and I hope to give a reply before the next peat-cutting season.

asked the President of the Board of Agriculture whether he has received a petition from the employés in the levelling department. of the Ordnance Survey of Ireland; whether they will be continued in their employment; whether, although there is ample work for years to come for the present staff, some of them have received notice from their authorities terminating their employment; and whether, in view of the fact that the work upon which they are engaged is technical and important they will receive some security as to their future employment?

My hon. Friend has forwarded to me a petition addressed to himself and certain other hon. Members by nineteen persons employed in the levelling department of the Ordnance Survey of Ireland. The wording of the petition is incorrect and misleading. Of the nineteen petitioners five are temporary Civil assistants, and fourteen are labourers. There is no intention of discharging the temporary Civil assistants, unless their discharge should in the future be necessary on account of inefficiency. They receive on an average 37s. a week, not 22s., as is stated in the petition. The contouring in Ireland is approaching completion, and the Director-General of Ordnance Survey has taken considerable trouble to find other work for the temporary Civil assistants displaced, with the result that all have now been provided for. Of the fourteen labourers who signed the petition, one has applied to be discharged on reduction, one is under notice of discharge on reduction, and the remaining twelve are not under any notice of discharge. So long as there is sufficient work for them to do they will probably be continued in their employment, provided that their conduct and character are satisfactory.

asked the Prime Minister whether his attention has been called to the correspondence which has taken place and which has been published between the Lord Chancellor and the University of London in reference to the proposed site for the university on the Bedford estate, and especially to the passage in the letter from the Lord Chancellor to the vice-chancellor of the university, dated 13th July, 1913, in which the former stated that, in the event of certain negotiations with the Treasury failing, the House should not ask the university to move from its present position; and whether the Lord Chancellor is there speaking for himself or for the Government or on behalf of His Majesty's Treasury?

The letter in question refers only to the attitude which the Lord Chancellor personally and certain possible donors would assume towards the removal of the headquarters of the university, if the contingent negotiations with the Treasury mentioned in the correspondence were to fail.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he has received a petition containing resolutions passed at a mass meeting of British-Indian residents in Zanzibar, held on the 9th June last, with reference to the intended change of administration of the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba from the Foreign to the Colonial Office, and protesting against the absorption in and subjection of those islands to the East African Protectorate as a consequence of such change of administration, for the reason that under that protectorate there are imposed many harsh restrictions and disabilities to which the British-Indian residents in Zanzibar and Pemba are not subjected; whether any reply has been made to the petition; and whether he will favourably consider the prayer of the petition?

The petition has been received and the Secretary of State is giving it his careful consideration.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he has received any details of the murder of Mr. Grant, of Skelmorlie, in Mongolia, some ten days ago; and what action, if any, the Foreign Office has taken or proposes to take?

His Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires at Peking has reported that Mr. Grant, an employé of the Chinese Government Telegraph Administration, was murdered by Mongols whilst engaged on a tour of inspection of telegraph lines. His Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires has been instructed to ascertain the intentions of the Chinese Government in the matter of granting compensation to Mr. Grant's relatives.

asked the President of the Local Government Board whether he is aware that the Auto-Cycle Union propose to hold competitive trials of some 200 machines, coming from all parts of the world and from nations which contribute nothing to the upkeep of our roads, through the hill country roads of the English lake district during the tourist season of the present month; whether there is any power of preventing or controlling this exploitation of country roads, or, otherwise, whether steps will be taken to ensure that the regulations under the Motor Car Acts are duly observed, and that every provision is made for the public safety?

I have seen a notice in the Press with regard to this competition. I am not myself in a position to take any action with respect to it, but I may say that the observance of the provisions of the Motor Car Acts and of the regulations made thereunder is a matter for the local police authority.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he can state what is the present position with regard to the proposed increase of railway rates in Ireland; and whether, before the sanction of the Railway and Canal Commissioners is given to the proposed increase, steps will be taken to secure that the salaries and wages of the railway employés are improved in proportion to the proposed increase?

In certain cases formal complaint has been made to the Board of Trade under the Railway and Canal Traffic Act, 1894, and the replies of the railway companies concerned have been forwarded to the complainants, but the Department have not yet been asked to issue a certificate to enable any of these cases to be taken before the Railway and Canal Commissioners. The case of the Great Southern and Western Company, who have to obtain the sanction of the Commissioners before increasing their rates, is at present before the Court. In the event of an increase being challenged before the Commissioners, it lies upon the company concerned to prove that the increase is reasonable, but I can give no opinion as to the circumstances which the Court may think it necessary to take into account in arriving at their decision. As my hon. Friend is aware, the Railway and Canal Traffic Act, 1913, does not apply to Ireland.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether an official refusal has been given to the invitation to participate in the Panama exhibition at San Francisco; and, if so, whether he will state the reasons for withholding official recognition; and whether, in view of the importance attached to this exhibition by the American people, the Board will reconsider its decision in this matter?

I would refer my hon. Friend to the answer given on the 5th instant by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, of which I am sending him a copy. My right hon. Friend asks me to say that through a mistake the answer supplied to and reported in the Press was incomplete. The full answer as given will be found in the meal. REPORT for the 5th instant, column 1246.

asked the Postmaster-General whether a supervising allowance, held for nearly ten years by the senior sorting clerk and telegraphist at the Dunbar post office, was, without any complaint as to the manner in which that officer's duties were performed, withdrawn from her in March last; whether the reason given for that withdrawal was that a male officer was required; whether, although the senior male sorting clerk and telegraphist at the office had considerable experience of head-office working, a junior officer possessing no knowledge of head-office working was transferred thither from a sub-office in another district and given the said allowance; whether, in order to find room on the Dunbar staff for the transferee mentioned, a junior officer then on that staff was offered transfer to another office and informed that unless he accepted that offer the question of transferring him compulsorily would have to be considered; and, if so, what action he proposes to take to compensate the Dunbar postal staff for the supervising allowance position of which they have been deprived?

The officer in receipt of the supervising allowance asked to be relieved of the duties for which the allowance was paid. Her request was granted. It was considered advisable to allot the supervising duties to a man, and as no man at Dunbar was qualified for the duties it was necessary to transfer a suitable sorting clerk and telegraphist from another office. The claims of the local staff were fully considered before this transfer was carried out, and no compensation is due to them.

asked the Postmaster-General whether he has received a memorial from traders in Wrexham and from the Wrexham Town Council, respectively, protesting against the early closing of the post office; and whether he will take action in the matter?

I have received a memorial from the Wrexham Traders' Association and a communication from the town council on this subject, and am making further inquiries.

asked the Postmaster-General whether applications have been made for a public telephone at Bantry; and, if so, with what result?

No recent applications for a public telephone at Bantry have reached me, but I will have inquiry made in the matter, and will communicate further with the hon. Member.

also asked the Postmaster-General whether the inhabitants of the Kealkel district, near Bantry, have applied for an extension of the postal delivery from Pearson's Bridge to Kealkel; and, if so, whether he will see that it is granted?

:I am having inquiry made in the matter and I will communicate with the hon. Member.

asked the Postmaster-General whether it would be possible to insert a Clause in the Imperial wireless agreement, fixing a time limit for the construction of the stations, reserving to the Government the right either to exact a reasonably heavy penalty from the contracting company if that time limit is not observed, or to replace the contracting company with another firm of contractors?

A time limit is already fixed by the agreement. With respect to the amount of the penalty for non-fulfilment I would refer the hon. Member to my reply to his question on Tuesday last.

asked the Postmaster-General the number of learner-ships, male and female, at present vacant in the Cork telegraph office; and whether it is proposed to fill them by public competition or by limited competition as heretofore?

There are no vacancies at present for male learners at Cork and only one for a female learner. The latter will be filled in due course by the appointment of the successful candidate in a competition limited to girl probationers which was held in June.

asked the Postmaster-General on what principle girl probationers are selected in the Cork telegraph office; and whether any official intimation is publicly given that vacancies exist?

The situation of girl probationer in provincial post offices is filled, as a rule, by the selection of candidates whose names have been noted on a list of suitable applicants kept by the local postmaster or telephone district manager. It is not the practice to give public notice of the occurrence of vacancies for these situations.

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 are as follows:—

London: South-Western District Post Office Enlargement, South-Eastern District Post Office Extension, Offices for Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, New Money Order Office, Holloway, Natural History Museum—New Spirit Museum, Threadneedle Street Branch Post Office Rebuilding, Public Trustee Office, Royal Mint—New Buildings for Die and Seal Department, ^*Land Registry Extension, Paddington District Post Office Enlargement, Western District New Post Office, South Kensington New Branch Post Office and Meteorological Office, Western District Parcel Office Extension, Great Scotland Yard—Recruiting Station, National Gallery Extension, Patent Office Extension, Royal Courts of Justice—New Courts, ^*Extension of Public Offices, Westminster, New Stationery Office, Museum Telephone Exchange, Victoria Telephone Exchange, North-Western District Post Office Extension, General Post Office East—Rebuilding, New Science Building, South Kensington, Superintending Engineer's Offices, Denman Street, Studd Street—Extension of Depot, Mount Pleasant—Sub-Station and Boiler House.