asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer on what date he proposes to introduce the Budget?

I would refer the hon. Member to the statement of business made yesterday by the Prime Minister.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in view of the fact that the Royal Commission on the Civil Service has now reported, when it is proposed that the improvements in the scale of pay and conditions of employment of the clerical staff in the offices of the surveyors of taxes will be brought into operation?

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave yesterday to the hon. Member for North Down.

asked the Chief Secretary how many junior assistant mistresses at present in the service of the National Board in Ireland are in receipt of a salary less than the full allowance of £24 a year; how many of these teachers are engaged in schools whose average ranges from thirty to thirty-five; and whether he can say why it is that these teachers whose averages range from thirty to thirty-five are not benefiting by the fall of five in the attendance granted a short time ago?

The Commissioners of National Education inform me that there are 176 junior assistant mistresses in receipt of a salary of less than £24 a year, and of these fifty-four are engaged in schools whose averages range from thirty to thirty-five. According to the rules of the Commissioners the privilege of the fall of five does not apply in the case of these teachers.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland in regard to the police hut at Kinlea, West Clare, what was the cost of the erection of the hut; what was the cost of its upkeep; the date of erection; how many police were stationed in the hut; what was the cost of their maintenance, including everything; how much of the entire cost came out of the Constabulary Vote; and how much was borne by the ratepayers of the county?

The cost of erecting this hut in November, 1908, was £121 16s. 6d. The total cost of its upkeep was £17, and the expense incurred in removing the hut in January, 1914, was £30. Seven police were stationed at the hut, and the cost of their maintenance cannot exactly be given, but it may be taken approximately at about £530 per annum. None of the cost will fall on the local ratepayers, as the pay and other expenses of the police is borne by the Vote for the Royal Irish Constabulary, and the cost of erecting and removing the hut has been met from the account for Public Works, Ireland.

asked the Secretary of State for War whether officers who have been recently promoted from the ranks are now entitled to the increased outfit allowance of £150; and whether they are entitled to receive any additional pay; and, if so, what amount?

The officers commissioned from the ranks subsequent to 1st January last, will receive an outfit allowance of £150, and an addition to pay of £50 for three years from the date of commission. They will also draw the minimum rate of pay for a lieutenant, provided they had had not less than three years' service in the ranks.

asked the Postmaster-General if he will arrange for special leave of absence to be granted to members of the executive council of the United Association of Ex-Naval and Ex-Military Civil Servants to attend their annual conference, in the same manner that it is granted to officials of other service organisations?

The Association of Ex-Naval and Ex-Military Civil Servants is not composed solely of Post Office servants, but if any of its officials who are Post Office servants applied for special leave to attend the annual conference of the association such leave would, in ordinary circumstances, be allowed. If there has been any local difficulty in the matter and the hon. Member will supply me with particulars, I will have inquiry made.

asked the Postmaster General what is the meaning of "headquarters" as used in paragraphs 792–809 of the Report from the Select Committee on Post Office Servants (Wages and Conditions of Employment), No. 268; whether it means the place of which the chief of the staff of men employed has his business centre, or whether it is intended to interpret the term "headquarters" as any town where any grade of workmen happen to be employed regardless of the locality of their homes or the business centre of their chief; and whether this latter interpretation has ever been applied to the term?

The meaning of the terms "headquarters" is the engineering office to which men are attached and at which they receive their instructions. It is not necessarily the place at which the chief of the men is located. Even though men are shifted temporarily from place to place, their headquarters remain constant.