asked the Secretary to the Treasury whether, at the present time, tuberculous patients are being sent, under the National Insurance Act, to hospitals constructed before the Act for the treatment of infectious diseases, and are being treated therein at the same time as fever or other patients; and, if so, whether he will take steps to prevent such a practice, which involves danger both to the tuberculous persons and to the other inmates of the hospitals?

In reply to the first part of the question, I would refer the hon. Member to the answer which I gave to his question of the 10th instant. As regards the second part, I may say that cases of tuberculosis have been successfully treated for some years past in separate pavilions in the grounds of infectious diseases hospitals, and experience shows that no fear of danger, either to the tuberculous patients or to the other inmates of the hospitals, need be entertained.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury the amount which up to date has been contributed out of the rates to the erection or maintenance of institutions for the treatment, under the National Insurance Act, of tuberculous patients?

The institutions which are being provided by local authorities for the treatment of tuberculosis will be available for the whole community. The cost of erecting these institutions is being mot partly out of the capital Grant of £1,500,000 and partly out of loans raised by the local authorities or out of rates. So far as England is concerned, capital Grants have been paid or promised to the amount of £160,965. and loans have been sanctioned amounting to £107,256. The cost of maintaining the institutions is met out of the moneys made available by the National Insurance Act for sanatorium benefit, so far as insured persons are concerned, and the balance of the cost is provided in equal shares out of the special Grant for the treatment of tuberculosis and out of rates. The expenditure out of rates for this purpose is as follows:—For the period 15th July, 1912, to 31st March, 1913, £30,963; for the period 1st April, 1913, to 30th September, 1913, £39,388; and the estimated expenditure for the period 1st October 1913, to 31st March, 1914, is £66,313.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury at what date the present regulations of charges for vessels entering and utilising the Caledonian Canal in Scotland were instituted, and how long therefore they have been in use; is he aware that the minimum tonnage for which a rate is fixed is 50 tons; that such rate precludes the use of the canal to hundreds of small yachts on the West of Scotland; and will he take steps to have a new set of regulations drawn up more in keeping with the times, in order that the income of this Government-owned canal may be increased?

I am informed that the present regulations have been in force for twenty-seven years. The minimum tonnage for which a rate is fixed is 25 tons for sailing yachts and 50 tons for steam or motor yachts. The Caledonian Canal Commissioners are of opinion that any diminution of the present minimum rates would result in a loss rather than in an increase of income.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether certain people, assuming the authority of the Inland Revenue officials, are making inquiries from the licensed retailers in Darlington as to the quantity and details of their sales; whether there is any inquiry in this form being made by any Government Department or other authority; and whether licensed dealers are under any compulsion to divulge this private information?

In Darlington, as in other places in Great Britain, the valuations provided for in the Finance (1909–10) Act, 1910, are proceeding under the direction of the properly constituted authorities, and in this connection information as to trade and other matters relevant to the value of licensed premises is being obtained. With regard to the last part of the question, I would refer the hon. Member to the provisions of Section 44 (3) of the Act.

asked the Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture (Ireland) how many calves purchased by the Tipperary dealer at Cork were subsequently sold by him; and whether disease had been found upon any of the premises to which such calves were trace?

The dealer in question bought twenty-eight calves, one of which died. The remainder were sold to more than thirteen purchasers—the exact number is not yet known. Disease has been reported on the premises of two of these purchasers, but confirmation of these outbreaks has not yet been received.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether the landlord of the Barton estate, in the parish of Mevagh, county Donegal, has agreed to sell the estate to the Congested Districts Board; whether all maps and other papers required for the purposes of the sale have been lodged; whether the tenants have agreed to the terms of sale; and whether he can explain why no progress appears to have been made in the matter since April, 1913?

The Barton estate, county Donegal, was offered for sale to the Congested Districts Board and the necessary maps and documents were lodged in May, 1911. The Board agreed with the vendor as to the terms of purchase, but a number of the tenants having notified their objection to a sale unless certain lands in the hands of the vendor or his son were included in the purchase the Board withdrew their offer, and have not since taken any steps to acquire the property.

asked the Secretary of State for War, with reference to pages 22 and 23 of the General Annual Report of the British Army for the year ending 30th September, 1913, whether he will state the percentage of vacancies filled by ex-soldiers in each railway company, as has been done in the case of the police force; and whether he will show the Northern Counties of Ireland Branch of the Midland Railway separately as an Irish railway?

I will approach the railway companies with a view to obtaining the information suggested for inclusion in next year's General Annual Report.

asked the Secretary of State for War whether he will explain the figures given on page 23 of the General Annual Report of the British Army for the employment of ex-soldiers by the Great Southern and Western Railway (Ireland), by which it appears that although this company gave 497 and 639 vacancies to ex-soldiers during the years ending 30th September 1911 and 1912, re- spectively, there were only 318 and 427 ex-soldiers in that company's service, respectively, on those two dates?

The information is given as supplied by the company. The inference is that by the date on which the return of men actually in the company's employment was taken a certain number of those who had received employment, temporary or permanent, during the preceding twelve months had either resigned or been discharged.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the small percentage of prisoners in Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum cured and restored last year is much below the average, and will he say what the average has been in each of the last five years?

Eighteen patients were discharged recovered last year, and in the four previous years the numbers were sixteen, fourteen, fifteen, and fourteen.

asked how many inmates of Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum have been detained there for upwards of ten years, and the crimes for which they were convicted in each case?

Three hundred and forty-five inmates of Broadmoor Asylum have been there upwards of ten years. The offences with which they were charged were: murder, 194; attempted murder, 67; threats or conspiracy to murder, 3; manslaughter, 15; wounding, 29; arson, 11; other offences, 26.

asked why, as Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum is not a prison, two inmates are reported to have been discharged last year on expiry of sentence?

Persons who have become insane while under sentence cease to be criminal lunatics when the sentence expires. The two inmates referred to were discharged sane. If they had been insane at the expiry of sentence they would have been transferred to their county asylum.

asked whether regulations concerning subjects which prisoners at Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum are forbidden to write about in letters to relatives and friends are supplied to prisoners?

The answer is in the negative. It must be remembered that the patients are lunatics.

asked whether prisoners at Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum are informed when their letters to relatives and friends have been stopped?

Not necessarily. When a patient asks he is always informed.

asked whether R. D. Pritchard, confined in Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum since 1901, was convicted of any crime; and was he represented by counsel at the trial?

This man was charged with having sent a letter threatening to murder and was found by a jury to be guilty of the act, but to have been insane at the time of committing it. He was represented by counsel at the trial.

asked whether prisoners for murder, attempted murder, and matricide, have been released from Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum after periods of detention varying from some months to a few years, while a prisoner who, when a young man, sent a foolish threatening letter, is still detained at the asylum after being there for about twelve years?

The most important consideration in determining the question of discharge from Broadmoor is the patient's mental condition. It may, therefore, frequently happen that a person who has in a fit of insanity committed an act which in a sane person would be a heinous crime may become fit for discharge under suitable conditions after a shorter term of detention than one who has been charged with a less serious offence.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the seven inmates of Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum, remitted recovered to prison last year, are still in prison; and were they sent to the Broadmoor Asylum because of tendencies which developed after or before conviction?

Of the inmates referred to, two have been released and five are still in prison. Of those in prison one was released on licence and has been reconvicted. The tendency to insanity developed in six cases after conviction; in the other case the prisoner was classified as weak-minded on reception in prison.

asked the Secretary for Scotland what was the excess of births over deaths in Scotland during the year 1913?

During the year 1913 the excess of births over deaths in Scotland was 47,476; the number of births registered having been 120,549 and the number of deaths 73,073.

asked the Postmaster-General whether a number of men in the lower grades of the engineering classes who were taken over from the National Telephone Company have had their hours reduced, with consequent loss of pay, under a recommendation of the whole Committee; whether they are compelled to work overtime to avoid such loss; and, if so, what steps he proposes to take, having regard to his predecessor's undertaking that no member of the staff of the National Telephone Company should suffer by the transfer to the State?

The Holt Committee recommended a reduction in the working hours for the minor engineering grades from 50½ to 48 per week. In the case of men paid on an hourly basis this would have involved a reduction in the weekly earnings, but I have arranged for these men to be allowed the opportunity of earning the same money as before, while still working less than 50½ hours a week. The statement which my predecessor was reported to have made, and which the hon. Member cites as an undertaking, was care-j fully considered by the Holt Committee and dealt with in paragraph 996 of their Report. In paragraph 1051 the Committee expressed their opinion that "the staff transferred from the Telephone Company have no cause of complaint with regard to the transfer."