asked the Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture (Ireland) if he has received from the Castle-bar Rural District Council and other representative bodies in Mayo County strong protests against the Order prohibiting the shipment of cattle, sheep, and pigs from Western ports, and pointing out that the whole province of Connaught has been free from foot-and-mouth disease and all other contagious diseases of cattle for about thirty years; and can he state when approximately the Order will be rescinded?

Some protests of the nature referred to in the earlier part of this question have been received. As explained in connection with previous questions, the general situation regarding foot-and-mouth disease in Ireland has led the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries to prohibit for the time being the landing of ruminants and swine in Great Britain from any part of Ireland. I am in communication with the President of the Board as to when and under what conditions it may be possible to resume shipments from areas of the country, such as county Mayo, which are free from the disease, but it is regretted that circumstances do not yet allow of any definite arrangements being announced.

asked the Secretary of State for War why officers of the Royal Artillery are the only officers shown in columns 386–389 of the current monthly Army List whose regiment is printed after their names; and whether other officers on that Half-pay List are equally regarded as regimental officers?

The indication of the arm to which the officer belongs also appears after the names of officers of the Royal Engineers, Army Service Corps, and Royal Army Medical Corps. All other officers belong to the Cavalry and Infantry, and are not specially indicated. This arrangement is that adopted elsewhere in the Army List, e.g., columns 336–355.

asked the hon. Member for St. George's-in-the-East, as representing the Insurance Commissioners, if he will cause the case of Mrs. G. E. Ward to be reconsidered, having regard to the fact that she is in no way responsible for the inability of the London Insurance Committee to trace her original communication applying for Form 21 or to find the red medical ticket which she sent to them, so that she may not be penalised by having to pay both her contributions for medical benefit and also her doctor's bill, because of any confusion in the offices of the London Insurance Committee?

My right hon. Friend will cause further inquiry to be made into the matter.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware that officials of the Insurance Commissioners visit private houses and, without stating their business, endeavour to effect an entrance for the purpose of putting questions to householders or their servants, upon the answers to which legal proceedings may be founded; and whether he will give instructions that such action by the Commissioners and their officials shall be stopped?

Inquiry is being made into the case to which I understand the hon. Member to refer, and I will communicate further with him.

asked the Postmaster-General whether he is aware that the telegraph cable between Shetland and Orkney has been broken since last November, and between Orkney and the mainland has been broken for six weeks, and that much consequent inconvenience and loss are being suffered in Orkney and Shetland; that the repair ship which has been sent north is unable, through stress of weather, to effect the necessary repairs; and whether he will, in these circumstances, co-operate with the Admiralty in linking up Orkney with the wireless station on the mainland and Lerwick until the repairs of the cable are completed?

The cable between Orkney and the mainland was repaired yesterday afternoon.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will state, for the United Kingdom as a whole and for each division thereof, the expenditure from public moneys, showing national and local contributions separately, on elementary and secondary education for the last ten years for which the figures are available?

I have endeavoured as far as possible in the following tables to give the figures asked for. As regards England and Wales, the figures are subject to limitations similar to those set forth in the reply of the President of the Board of Education to a similar question put by the hon. Member on 20th October, 1909. As regards Scotland, I understand that, for the reasons stated below, separate figures cannot be given for primary and secondary education. As regards all countries alike, the figures exclude the additional expenditure incurred on education by other than the purely Educational Departments, e.g., expenditure on Poor Law, industrial or reformatory, and naval or military schools, and on agricultural education administered by the three Agricultural Departments.

Note.

The figures for local rates represent the authorities' net expenditure after deducting from their total expenditure the amount received in the year from sources other than rates. The rates of 1905–6 and 1906–7 for higher education, as given in the answer to the question of 20th October, 1909, represent the rates actually raised in those years; this accounts for the variation in the figures now given.

Particulars of local rates are not given for the years 1903–4 and 1904–5, because in neither of those years was the Education Act, 1902, in full operation, the appointed day for the authorities which were the last to adopt the Act being 25th September,1904. Further, since the financial year for school boards ended on 29th September, while that for local education authorities ends on 31st March, it is impossible to give, for any specific period of twelve months during the transition stage, the amount of rates raised by school boards and local education authorities combined.

EXPENDITURE FROM PUBLIC MONEYS in respect of Primary, Secondary and Continuation Education in Scotland.

Notes.

(1) These figures include payments in respect of continuation classes conducted by school boards, particulars of which are not shown separately in the accounts.

(2) The amount given under the head of rates is not necessarily the sum actually received from rates, but is the balance of expenditure falling to be met by rates after deduction of income from Grants and other sources.

(3) In Scotland primary and secondary education are both administered by the same authority, and certain Grants are given to school boards in respect of their expenditure as a whole, irrespective of the form of education given. The rate raised by school boards is for all purposes, and no part of it is specifically for primary education. It is, therefore, impossible to allocate either the Grants or the contribution from rates with anything like precision between primary and secondary education.

THE AMOUNT PAID by the Commissioners of National Education in respect of Primary Education in Ireland out of Grants voted by Parliament during each of the last ten years, was as follows:—

During these ten years no payments were made by the Commissioners of National Education from public moneys other than those provided by Parliamentary Votes.

No contributions are paid from local rates.

Note.

( a ) The above expenditure was solely on cost of administration, no Grant being made to schools out of public moneys.

( b ) There were no local contributions.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether it has been found necessary to compel any of the hunger-striking prisoners to take any form of narcotic in order that they may not struggle when being forcibly fed?

The answer is in the negative.

asked the President of the Local Government Board whether his attention has been called to the results recently obtained by experiments carried out at the Lister Institute in the analysis of samples of milk supplied by high-class milkshops in the West End of London; whether the milk sold for 6d. a quart as nursery milk has been found to contain as many as 6,500,000 bacteria per c. c.; and whether such milk is allowed by the Local Government Board to be suitable for consumption by infants?

I am aware of the statements which have recently been made in the Press respecting the examination of certain samples of milk. As I have already indicated, the whole question of milk supply is receiving my close attention.