asked the Secretary for Scotland whether, in allocating in Lanarkshire the Grant for the erection of sanatoria, etc., in Scotland in connection with the National Insurance Act, the Local Government Board will pay special regard to the provision already made for the treatment of phthisis by the public health authorities in the county of Lanark and the work already accomplished by them in dealing with this matter?

In allocating the Building Grant for sanatoria the Local Government Board will give consideration to the provisions already made for the treatment of phthisis by public health authorities in Lanarkshire and elsewhere in Scotland.

asked the President of the Local Government Board whether his attention has been called to the recommendation of the Welsh Insurance Commissioners that all official statistics dealing with population, employment, and health, should be prepared for Wales, including Monmouthshire, as a separate unit; and whether he will give instructions that in his Department this course in future will be invariably followed?

My attention has been called to the paragraph in the recent Report of the Welsh Insurance Commissioners. The present practice in regard to periodical statistics issued by the Local Government Board is to give separate particulars for Wales and Monmouthshire in all but clearly unimportant cases.

asked the Postmaster-General whether a number of head postmasters and salaried sub-postmaster acted as local agents under the National Insurance Act, Part II., for some time after the Act came into operation; whether any payment has yet been made to them for this extra work; and, if not, whether it is intended to make any payment, and, if so, when?

It is proposed to make a payment to head postmasters and salaried sub-postmasters who acted for a time as local agents for unemployment insurance. I have been in communication with the Board of Trade as to the rate of payment, and I hope that a decision will be notified shortly.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury if, in the case of the county of London, panel doctors have been paid in respect of medical benefit under the National Insurance Act at the rate of Is. 6d. per insured person for the second quarter of the present year, while they were paid at the rate of is. 9d. for the first quarter; if, further, no payment has been made in regard to persons added to the doctors' lists in the second quarter; if all payments due to medical practitioners for the first half-year have now been made as regards London; and, if so, if he will give the total amounts paid to panel doctors for the first and second quarters, respectively, and the total numbers of insured accepted persons for the same periods in respect of which such sums were paid?

The hon. Member is mistaken in supposing that a payment of a previously ascertainable amount is due at the end of each quarter to each doctor on the panel. As I have frequently pointed out, the precise amount actually due to any particular doctor can only be finally determined at the end of the year. The regulations, however, provide that the Insurance Committee shall make payments in advance at the end of each quarter of such amounts as may be agreed for this purpose, and London doctors have accordingly received advanced payments at the rate of 1s. 9d. per insured person on their list for the first quarter, and 1s. 6d. for the second quarter. Payments were made on:—

				s.	d.
10th March	…	…	…	0	9
22nd April	…	…	…	1	0
10th June	…	…	…	0	9
15th July	…	…	…	0	9

To facilitate this latter payment on the last day of the quarter and to avoid delay, the amount paid was based on the figures for the first quarter. A further payment will be made on 23rd August, based on the figures for the second quarter, and any balance found to be payable will be added thereto.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, in view of the fact that a sum of 7s. per insured person per annum is paid to doctors on the panel for medical treatment, exclusive of drugs and medicine, he will state the reason why a sum of only 4s. per insured person per annum is allowed to friendly societies' medical associations for providing medical treatment, including drugs and medicines?

The hon. Member has been misinformed. Where the expenditure of an approved institution in respect of their insured members upon medical treatment (including the provision of medicines and appliances) and all reasonable establishment charges amounts to 9s. per head, the amount of the contribution to be made to the institution by the insurance committee will be a sum equal to 9s. per insured member of the institution.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury whether any suggestion has been made for reducing, in the case of future appointments, the scale of salary of minor staff clerks in the Board of Education; if so, whether he will state by whom the suggestion was made; whether it is proposed that the duties of these officers, or any of them, should in 'future be performed by second division clerks on the scale of salary of £200 to £300; and whether sanction to any such proposals will be withheld until the Royal Commission on the Civil Service has reported?

The Treasury is in correspondence with the Board of Education on the subject, and I am not at present in a position to make a statement as to the decision reached.

asked the President of the Board of Education the names of the last five junior examiners promoted to the post of senior examiner in the Board of Education, the dates of the minutes promoting them, and the dates from which the promotions took effect; and if he will give such instructions as will secure that vacancies in the grades of minor staff clerk and staff clerk shall in the future be filled up with the same celerity as are the vacancies in the higher staff of his Department

The names and dates asked for are as follows:—

Names.	Date of Minute of Promotion.	Date from which Promotion took Effect.
L. J. Morison	20th Jan., 1917	1st Feb., 1912
C. E. Sykes	11thApril,1913	11th Dec., 1912
R. R. Campbell	11th Apri1, 1913	19th Feb., 1913
R. E. S. Hart	3rd May, 1913	25th Apri1, 1913
H. E. Fass	3rd May, 1913	12th May, 1913

So far as the action of my Department is concerned, there has been no avoidable delay in filling any vacancies in the grades of staff clerk or minor staff clerk.

asked the President of the Board of Education whether the operation of Section 4 of the Superannuation Act, 1859, under which the examiners of his Department are appointed, is restricted to persons of an age exceeding that at which public service usually begins; whether, although the public service may be entered by the Class I. examination at the age of twenty-four, at least twelve examiners of the age of twenty-three or twenty-four have been appointed since 1st April, 1900; if so, what justification is there for using the Act to appoint men who do not satisfy its provisions; and whether he will take the opinion of the Law Officers of the Crown as to the legality of such appointments?

I do not think that, on a correct interpretation of the question, a Department which has been brought within its operation by the Treasury is precluded from appointing to the class of officers named in the Treasury Warrant some persons who are not above the age at which the public service usually begins. The answer to the second part of the question is in the affirmative. I see no reason for consulting the Law Officers on the matter.

asked the President of the Board of Education whether Section 4 of the Superannuation Act, 1859, under which examiners are appointed, provides for the addition of years of service for pension purposes in the case of certain posts; whether all the junior examiners appointed since 1st January, 1902, have received such an addition of years; and, if not, what necessity or justification is there for appointing as examiners men who were clearly not contemplated by the terms of the Statute governing their appointments?

One of the provisions of the Section cited is as stated in the first part of the question. The answer to the second part is in the negative; the practice varied before 1905, but since the 1st September, 1905, the practice, approved by the Treasury, has been that persons appointed to examinerships from outside the public service receive an addition of five years for pension, less one year for each year by which their age on appointment falls short of thirty-five. Under this practice no examiner appointed at the age of thirty or less can receive an addition of years for pension; the inference suggested in the last part of the question cannot, therefore, be drawn.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury if he will state the number of assistant clerks (new class) employed in the Statistical Office, Customs and Excise, appointed to port clerkships and second division clerkships, respectively, since 1st January, 1906, and the conditions under which promoted assistant clerks (new class) holding either a port clerkship or second division clerkship may be allowed to revert to the rank of junior clerk in the Statistical Office; and what promise, if any, of such reversion to junior clerkships in the Statistical Office has been made to those assistant clerks (new class) promoted to superior posts outside of that office?

Thirteen assistant clerks (new class) in the Statistical Office have been promoted to port clerkships and five to second division clerkships since 1st January, 1906. There is a possibility that a man so appointed may, if qualified, revert to a junior clerkship in the Statistical Office when a suitable vacancy arises, but no promise of such reversion has been given to any one of them.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury the approximate date when a reply may be expected to the repre- sentations made in a Petition forwarded by the assistant clerks (new class) employed in the Statistical Office (Customs and Excise), on the 6th January, 1913, to the Board of Customs and Excise?

I beg to refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave him on the 15th ultimo.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury whether any, and, if so, what permanent arrangements have been made with the object of assisting the convalescence of Revenue officials discharged from sanatoria with reasonable prospects of recovery; and whether any such arrangements have been notified to the staff?

No special arrangements with regard to extended sick leave exist in respect of revenue officers which do not apply generally to officers in the service of the Crown, and I am not aware of any other arrangements to which the hon. Member's question can apply.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury whether instructions have been issued to all district valuers of land under the Finance Act, 1909, to insist that in all notices of objection to provisional valuations the objector must state the amendment that he requires in terms of money; and under what Section of the Finance Act this demand is made?

Section 27 (2) of the Finance (1909–10) Act, 1910, lays down that notices of objection should contain and is brought to the notice of owners who do not state specifically the amendments they desire to provisional valuations. No instructions have been issued to valuers in conflict with this Section or insisting on any more definite statement than it requires.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware that a private Bill under the name of the Arigna Valley Railway Bill was this Session promoted by persons interested in the Arigna coal and iron ore field, with a view to providing railway facilities for the development of that field; that the Congested Dis- tricts Board for Ireland passed a resolution expressing their belief that this railway would greatly assist the development of the mineral resources of the Arigna Valley in the congested districts, county of Leitrim; that the Bill was supported by the Midland Great Western Railway of Ireland Company and opposed by the Cavan and Leitrim Railway Company before a Select Committee of the House of Lords; is he aware that, as the Cavan. and Leitrim Railway Company have intimated their intention of opposing the Bill at all its remaining stages, the promoters have had no alternative, in view of the period of the Session, but to withdraw the Bill; seeing that the Treasury have for years contributed out of public funds money to the Cavan and Leitrim Railway Company to make good the deficiency in the guaranteed interest on the capital of that company, the payment for the year ending 31st March last amounting to £3,734, will he say whether the costs incurred by this company in respect of their opposition will be paid by that company and any deficiency in the said interest arising therefrom be made good by the Treasury; and whether the action of this company in this matter has been at the instance or with the knowledge and sanction of the Treasury?

I have no reason to doubt the substantial accuracy of the first four sections of the question, but the Treasury has no separate information upon some of the statements made; the action of the Cavan and Leitrim Railway Company did not require Treasury sanction and was not taken at the instance of or with the knowledge of the Treasury. Public funds contribute to the deficiency in the guaranteed interest on the capital of the company; the payment in the year 1912–13 was £3,642. Presumably the costs of the opposition by the Cavan and Leitrim Railway Company will be included in the expenditure of the company, and will in due course come before the arbitrators, whose duty it is to decide what sum is payable by the counties in respect of guaranteed dividend or working expenses. As the Treasury recoupment of 2 per cent. for guaranteed dividend is already almost paid in full, only a small portion of the expenses of the opposition to the Bill can fall on public funds.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware that the existing system of commutation of pensions has created considerable dissatisfaction, and has not always worked with advantage to the pensioner; that, during the forty years that the Act has been in operation, no public inquiry into its results and working has been held; and whether he would consent, on the reassembling of Parliament, to appoint a small Committee to investigate and report as to the desirability of any changes?

I have recently been in communication with the Pensions Commutation Board, and I hope that revised regulations will shortly be issued under which somewhat improved terms of commutation will be granted, so far as is possible within existing statutory limits. But I do not see my way to reopen the whole question of commutation which would require legislation, and in these circumstances I do not think that any useful purpose would be served by the appointment of a Committee as suggested.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether advance copies of the Report of the Land Inquiry Committee will be sent to landowners whose estate management is criticised therein and landowners in districts adversely criticised in the Report; and whether any replies such landowners may send to such criticisms will be published with the Report, or whether any and what opportunity will be given to any landowners to reply to anonymous criticisms or statements of fact in such Report before the Report is publicly circulated?

I would ask the hon. and learned Member to await the publication of the Report before making definite suggestions as to the nature of its contents.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he is aware that the Estates Commissioners or the Congested Districts Board have entered into negotiations for the purchase of the Doonflin ranch and the estate of Mrs. Fenton, situated in the townland of Doonflin, parish of Skreen, county Sligo; and will he say when it is expected that those lands will be acquired and distributed for the relief of congestion?

The Congested Districts Board communicated with the owner regarding the sale of this estate, but so far the maps and documents necessary for a preliminary inspection of the property have not been lodged. Further inquiries are being made by the Board.

asked the Chief Secretary whether the Congested Districts Board or the Estates Commissioners have been offered either the Young or the Lemmon estates, which are close to each other and near Portumna, county Galway; and, if not, will he instruct the Congested Districts Board to approach the owners with a view of purchase, as there are a considerable number of small tenants on and about those estates, including four evicted tenants?

The estates referred to have not been offered for sale to the Estates Commissioners. The Congested Districts Board communicated with Mr. Young regarding his estate near Portumna, but it has not been offered for sale through them. They have no information with reference to the Lemmon estate.

asked the Chief Secretary whether he is aware that the following gentlemen, namely, Messrs. James Clarke, merchant, Tubbercurry, Henry Evans, Aclare, Tubbercurry, James Donohoe and the Reverend Canon Gunning, both of Tubbercurry, M. Howley Curry, Tubbercurry, and James M'Vann, Cloonacool, Tubbercurry, county Sligo, all of whom hold non-residential grazing ranches in the districts of Aclare and Tourlestrane, parish of Kilmactigue, Tubbercurry Union, have signified their willingness to sell the same to the Congested Districts Board; and, if so, whether the Board will press negotiations for purchase, seeing that Kilmactigue is one of the most congested districts in Ireland?

None of the farms referred to have been offered for sale to the Congested Districts Board.

asked the Chief Secretary what steps, if any, the Commissioners of National Education have taken to ascertain the truth, or otherwise, of the statement made by one of their inspectors that the Catholic Bishop of Down and Connor has made a diocesan rule re- quiring women teachers to resign their school on marriage?

The Commissioners of National Education inform me that they have not taken any steps in the matter.

asked the Chief Secretary what steps have been taken to improve the pier at Dingle, county Kerry; whether a promise was made a considerable time ago to a representative deputation that this work, which is most essential in the interests of the fishing industry of the district, would be dealt with by the Development Commissioners; whether that body has been approached; and, if so, what reply have they given?

Application has been made by the Congested Districts Board to the Development Commissioners for a Grant towards harbour improvements at Dingle. The Commissioners have promised to consider a scheme of improvement if the Congested Districts Board, the Board of Works, and the local authority, who are now in correspondence on the subject, can agree on one.

asked the Chief Secretary whether he is aware that several dispensary medical officers in Ireland act as coroners, and that the districts of such coroners are in every case much more extensive than those dispensary districts, in some cases comprising an entire county, and that the duty of a coroner frequently necessitates prolonged absence from home; if so, whether it is the policy of the Local Government Board for Ireland to insist on dispensary medical officers refraining from acting as medical advisers under the National Insurance Act, in view of the fact that their duties as such medical advisers would never entail prolonged absence from their dispensary districts; and, if so, will he now state what objection the Local Government Board have to allowing dispensary doctors acting as medical advisers to be absent from their dispensary districts under conditions similar to those which obtain in the case of dispensary medical officers acting as coroners?

I am aware that several dispensary doctors in Ireland also act as coroners, but in each case in which such a dual appointment is proposed the Local Government Board before agreeing to the proposal carefully consider the extent of the duties to be performed and the amount of travelling entailed, so as to make sure that their policy of securing prompt medical attendance for the sick poor is not interfered with. In pursuance of the same policy the Board are inquiring as to the arrangements made for attendance on urgent cases during the temporary absence of the dispensary doctors in unions where such doctors have accepted appointments as advisers under the National Insurance Act.

asked the Chief Secretary whether a demand for £3,000 odd, made on the Sligo County Council in 1903 on account of extra police, was cancelled and the amount remitted by the then Chief Secretary; and, if so, whether he will consider the advisability of adopting a similar course in regard to the police tax now about to be levied on the people of Sligo county?

As stated in reply to a question on this subject by the hon. Member for Mid-Armagh on the 24th March, 1904, the claim for the cost of extra police made upon the County Council of Sligo in 1903 was in respect of a reserve force of constabulary, and when it was afterwards found that the additional men had not, as a matter of fact, been drawn from the reserve, the Government was advised that there was no legal power to recover the claim, and it was accordingly withdrawn. There are no grounds for similar action in the present case.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland what is the amount of the bonus paid to Irish landlords under the Irish Land Acts, 1903 and 1909, respectively, and what has been the actual cost to the Exchequer of raising this amount; and what is the amount of the purchase money paid under the Act of 1903, and what has been the cost incurred by the Exchequer in raising this amount in cash?

The amounts of bonus paid in cash to vendors up to 31st March last were, under the Act of 1903, £5,661,048, and under the Act of 1909, £194,724. These sums were raised by the issue of £4,451,444 Guaranteed 21 per Cent. Stock and £2,450,000 Guaranteed 3 per Cent. Stock, which involved an annual charge on the Exchequer of £230,422, including a sinking fund of 10s. per cent. At the 31st March, 1913, the advances for land purchase under the Act of 1903, including the cash value of the advances in Guaranteed 2¾ per Cent. Stock, were £55,227,321, which involved an annual charge of £268,151, including a sinking fund of 10s. per cent. Of this annual charge £160,000 is payable from the Ireland Development Grant, and the balance of £108,151 is payable from the Exchequer.

asked the Chief Secretary why no Reports of the Commissioners of National Education have been issued since the Sixty-seventh Report, which was for the school year 1910-11; and have the said Commissioners ceased issuing Reports?

Some delay took place in presenting the Seventy-eighth Report of the Commissioners of National Education to Parliament owing to a correspondence between the Lord Lieutenant and the Commissioners on the subject of the Report. It has now been published, and the Seventy-ninth Report is understood to be in the printer's hands.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty if no shore leave was given to the men of the lower deck, Ninth Cruiser Squadron, on arrival at Spithead on 3rd August last; and, if so, will he explain the reason for this course of action, in view of his recent promise?

No shore leave was given to the Ninth Cruiser Squadron on arrival at Spithead on 3rd August, it being found necessary to keep the crews on board for the purpose of cleaning the ships prior to reducing to reserve commission complements on 7th August. The conditions differed from those obtaining in other ships as the Ninth Cruiser Squadron did not take part in the second phase of the manœuvres; leave had, moreover, been given to these ships previously during the manœuvre period. I may remind the hon. Member that as a rule no leave is given during the manœuvre period, which represents a period of war. Special leave is always given after the manœuvres; and this year as much as seven days have been granted.

asked the President of the Board of Education whether in any further Education Bill the Aid Grant will be revised so as to rectify the present disablement of London to earn any equal Grant to the rest of England and Wales?

As I explained in my speech on the First Reading of the Education (No. 2) Bill this Session, it is our intention to introduce in connection with the Education Bill next Session a system of Grants in which regard will be had both to the rateable value of each area and the expenditure per child. The county of London will share with other areas the advantages of a more equitable system of Grants.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for India if he will lay upon the Table of the House the Papers containing the correspondence between the Secretary of State for India and the Indian Government on the appointment of Mr. Hornell as director of public instruction in Bengal?

The Secretary of State is not prepared to lay this correspondence, but the fullest possible information on this matter has been given in debate and in answer to questions.

asked the Secretary for Scotland whether the Commissioner for Small Holdings or one of the Sub-Commissioners will again during the autumn visit the districts in the county of Lanark from which applications for small holdings have been received, with a view to expediting the formation of small holdings under the new Act?

Arrangements have been made for a Sub-Commissioner to visit Lanarkshire in the course of the next few weeks.

asked the Secretary for Scotland whether his attention has been called to the practice of insurance companies in Scotland, who do business with farmers and small holders, of accepting premiums for the insurance of a number of animals and, when a claim arises on one of these, refusing payment, and at the same time refusing to return the premium on the remainder of the animals, notwithstanding that claims thereon when exigible will be similarly rejected; and whether he will introduce legislation making insurance companies liable when they have accepted premiums?

I am not aware of any such practice as my hon. Friend refers to, but if he will give me the facts on which his question is founded I will be glad to consider them.

asked the Postmaster-General if he can see his way to reduce the payment in advance for the rent of a telephone from twelve months to three months, and the notice to terminate the agreement to rent it from six months to three months

The question of quarterly payment of telephone subscriptions is being considered in connection with the revision of the rates of subscription. As regards notices to terminate telephone agreements, I have already arranged some months ago that subscribers who entered into contracts with the National Telephone Company, under which six months' notice is necessary, may be allowed to terminate agreements on the same conditions as subscribers who entered into contracts with the Post Office, under which three months' notice only is necessary.

asked the President of the Local Government Board how many children between the ages of three and sixteen were in workhouses in England and Wales on 1st January, 1913?

The numbers were as follows:—

In Infirm Wards	392
In Receiving Wards	120
In separate buildings for children on the Workhouse premises	3,533
In other wards of Workhouses	4,553

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he can state the total number of passengers carried by omnibuses and by tramcars, respectively, in Greater London during the year 7912 and the first half of the year 1913?

The number of passengers carried by tramway authorities working in Greater London during the year ended 31st December, 1912, in the case of companies, and 31st March, 1913, in the case of local authorities, amounted to 798,672,549; and the number carried during 1912 by omnibuses was upwards of 500,000,000. The corresponding figures for the first half of 1913 cannot be given.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he can state the increase which has taken place in the wages earned by the miners in the United -Kingdom during the past; twenty years; and what the purchasing power of the shilling was twenty years ago as compared with to-day?

I regret that at the last Census of Wages the Board of Trade were not successful in obtaining a sufficient number of returns showing the actual earnings of coal miners to enable me to make the desired comparison. The net percentage advance on the standard piece prices of coal hewers between 1892 and 1912 was about 19 per cent., but it is doubtful if the average earnings have risen in the same proportion. As regards the latter part of my hon. Friend's question, he is probably now aware that a Report on Cost of Living in the -United Kingdom was issued last night, from which he will be able to obtain information throwing light on recent changes in the cost of articles of workmen's consumption. A comparison of the retail prices of twenty-three articles of food shows a rise of 9 per cent. as between 1892 and 1912.

asked the President of the Board of Trade the amount paid in name of annual royalties and wayleaves in Belgium, France, and Germany during the past ten years, giving the figures for each year, or as far as they may be available, and distinguishing, if possible, the amount of royalties paid on coal from that paid on other minerals?

The information in my possession does not enable me to answer my hon. Friend's question, but I will see how far further particulars can be obtained, and will communicate with him.