asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether the new rank of lieutenant-commander, which is to be granted to naval lieutenants of eight years' seniority, will be created also in the Royal Naval Reserve and the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve; and, if not, whether he will take into his consideration the desirability of still further encouraging the officers of these two units by instituting a similar rank in their case also?

The matter will receive consideration.

asked the Secretary of State for War why men of the National Reserve who have served in the Royal Army Medical Corps, Regulars or Auxiliaries, are not permitted to wear the Geneva Cross of the Royal Army Medical Corps on parade, provided they are properly registered under the new classification and are restricted to wearing it on parade; and will he consider the granting of this privilege to these men?

Under Article 23 of the Geneva Convention the emblem of the red cross on a white ground and the words "Red Cross" or "Geneva Cross" cannot be used except to protect or to indicate the medical units and establishments and the personnel and materiel protected by the Convention.

asked the Under-Secretary for India what is the present depreciation in the value of British Government Securities held on behalf of the Paper Currency Reserve and purchased when it was provided that not more than 200 lakhs was to be in such securities?

The depreciation of the securities in question amounts to approximately £210,250.

also asked what is the present depreciation in British Government securities held in respect of the Paper Currency Reserve in excess of the 200 lakhs formerly authorised to be invested in such securities?

The present depreciation of the securities in question—i.e., of securities of the British Government purchased in April, 1011, under the Indian Paper Currency Act of that year—is approximately £106,000.

also asked how much of the Paper Currency Reserve is now held in London; how much is in gold at the Bank of England; and how much is in British Government securities?

The amount held in London is £8,766,666 13s. 4d., of which £0,100,000 is held in gold at the Bank of England, and £2,666,666 13s. 4d. (the equivalent of 40 millions of rupees) represents the sum expended in the purchase of securities of the British Government.

asked what would be the difference in value at present market prices, and the difference in annual interest receivable, if the second 200 lakhs belonging to the Paper Currency Reserve authorised to be invested in British Government securities had been invested in 3½ rupee paper bought in India at prices current at the time when the securities now held were purchased?

In the hypothetical case stated the value of the securities at present market prices would have been greater by £101,840, and the annual interest receivable larger by £7,742.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether, in his consideration of the proceedings-in the case of the conviction of Sidney Butler, a chauffeur employed by the First Lord of the Admiralty, and particularly in relation to the alleged attempt of that personage to interfere with the course of justice, he applied to the magistrate or officials at Bow Street for a copy of any minutes of evidence or other official record before having recourse to the reports of daily papers in order to determine whether he should direct the Public Prosecutor to take action against the First Lord of the Admiralty?

I have obtained a copy of the notes of evidence taken at Bow Street. No facts appear in them or have been brought to my notice that suggest in any way the desirability of communicating with the Director of Public Prosecutions in regard to this case.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the Regulations made by his Department under the Factory and Workshop Act (Dangerous and Unhealthy Industries) to apply to the construction and repair of ships in shipbuilding yards are to become operative?

These Regulations will come into force on Friday next, the 1st May.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether it is his practice to ascertain the evidence given or other facts in relation to proceedings before the stipendiary magistrates from the daily newspapers, or whether such course is only taken when it is ascertained that no official record is in existence of such evidence or facts?

The usual practice is to ask the magistrate for a copy of the notes of evidence, but in some cases the reports in the newspapers are so full as to render a reference to the magistrate unnecessary.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department by whom or out of what fund are the police or other officers detailed to protect Ministers paid; who requisitions such services; who determines what should be the form and extent of the protection afforded; what number of men are now employed in such service; and in what manner are they distributed?

When he finds it necessary, the Commissioner of Police, who is responsible in the matter, employs for the protection of individual Ministers the number of police officers needed for this purpose. The cost is paid from the Police Fund out of the annual contribution made by the Treasury under Section 1 of the Police Act, 1909, in respect of services rendered by the police for Imperial and national purposes. The Commissioner advises me that it would be against the public interest to publish details as to their distribution.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is aware that on Wednesday, the 15th instant, a washbowl minder employed by Messrs. Campbell and Harrison, a branch of Woolcombers, Limited, of Bradford, contracted anthrax in the course of his employment and died of the said disease on the following Saturday, and that on the same day a washbowl feeder in the employment of Messrs. John Cure and Company, another branch of Woolcombers, Limited, contracted anthrax in the course of his employment, and he also died of the same disease; and whether he will say how many cases of anthrax have occurred among the employés of each of the two firms mentioned, respectively, during the period of years, 1900 to 1913, inclusive, distinguishing between different years and fatal and non-fatal cases?

supplied the following figures:—

Year.	Cases at Messrs. Campbell and Harrison.			Cases at Messrs. John Cure and Company.
	Non-Fatal.	Fatal.	Total.	Non-Fatal.	Fatal.	Total.
1900.	2	2	4	—	—	—
1901.	—	1	1	—	1	1
1902.	2	—	2	—	—	—
1903.	2	—	2	4	—	4
1904.	1	—	1	2	—	2
1905.	5	6	11	2	4	6
1906.	4	3	7	2	—	2
1907.	2	—	2	2	—	2
1908.	2	1	3	1	—	1
1909.	5	—	5	—	—	—
1910.	1	1	2	—	—	—
1911.	3	2	5	—	—	—
1912.	2	2	4	1	1	2
1013.	5	—	5	—	—	—
Tot'l	36	18	54*	14	6	20
* Not including a housewife (non-fatal) in l903. whose husband, son, and sister, all worked in this factory.

asked the Home Secretary whether the special or political branch of the Criminal Investigation Department of Scotland Yard forms a part of the Metropolitan Police and is under the authority of the Commissioners?

There is no "political" branch of the Criminal Investigation Department. As regards the special branch, the answer is in the affirmative.

asked the Secretary for Scotland the number of clients in Perth for whom laundry work is done at the State Inebriate Reformatory?

I am informed that the number of regular customers is about 40 and that washing is only done for those who bring and take away the articles washed.

asked the Chief Secretary the grounds upon which the Local Government Board decided that Patrick Delahunty, Thomastown, county Kilkenny, was not entitled to any old age pension?

Patrick Delahunty's claim for an old age pension was disallowed by the Local Government Board on appeal on the ground that they were not satisfied that his means as caluculated under the Acts were less than £31 10s. per annum. Delahunty is in receipt of a pension of 12s. a week from the Thomastown board of guardians. He has also £20 in the bank, and house and land property, a portion of which he assigned to his unmarried son in 1912. In addition, his wife has a hardware and grocery store, and keeps lodgers.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland if ho will state for each of the years 1911, 1912, and J913 the amount certified by the auditor as payable to the county council of the county of Monaghan in respect of the Capitation Grant for lunatics, and also the amount actually paid in each of those years; how much has been paid in respect of the year 1914; whether he can state what the deficit in respect of this year, to be borne by the ratepayers, will probably be; and whether in face of this annually increasing deficit, he can hold out any hope that the Government will take steps to relieve the local authorities from this burden?

The following statement shows the amounts certified to be payable and the actual payments made to Monaghan County Council from the Local Taxation Account in respect of the cost of maintenance of lunatics:—

—	Amount certified to be Payable by the Auditor.			Amount Paid.
	£	s.	d.	£	s.	d.
For the year ended 31st March, 1911, but paid in the financial year 1911–12	4,205	10	8	3,629	2	1
For the year ended 31st March. 1912, but paid in the financial year 1912–13	4,284	8	8	3,845	6	5
For the year ended 31st March, 1913, but paid in the financial year 1913–14	4,171	5	2	3,705	19	0
For the year ended 31st March, 1914, but paid in the financial year 1914–15	Audited claims			1,600	0	0
	not yet received			"on account"

The income of the branch of the Local Taxation Account from which these payments are made is not ascertainable until towards the end of the financial year, and no estimate of the state of the account for the year 1914–15 is at present practicable. I am not in a position to make any state-men with regard to the last paragraph of the question.

asked the Chief Secretary how many estates have been purchased in Queen's County under the Land Purchase (Ireland) Acts from the passing of the Ashbourne Act to the 1st April, 1914?

Proceedings under the Land Purchase Acts prior to 1903 were for the sale of separate holdings, and not of estates as a whole. The number of holdings in Queen's County purchased or agreed to be purchased under the Land Purchase Acts from the passing of the Act of 1885 to the 1st instant is 5,632.

asked the Chief Secretary if his attention has been called to the judgment of the Recorder of Cork, when granting decrees against tenant purchasers at Midleton, as to the hardship inflicted on the farmers sued by the Land Commission owing to their cattle being rendered unsaleable by the prohibitions of the Department of Agriculture respecting foot-and-mouth disease; will he say what numbers of decrees were granted at Midleton against tenant purchasers in 1914, and for the same period in 1913; and, as the Midleton fair has been forbidden this year by the Department of Agriculture, will the Land Commission abstain from enforcing the decrees until farmers are allowed to sell their cattle?

I have seen a newspaper report of the observations of the Recorder of Cork at the recent Midleton Quarter Sessions on the subject referred to in the question. The number of decrees granted at the Quarter Sessions against tenant-purchasers was eighty-four; and the number of decrees granted at the corresponding Midleton Sessions in 1913 was fifty-five. The number at the corresponding Sessions in 1912 was seventy. The Land Commission are bound to enforce the prompt payment of Land Purchase Annuities and have no power to suspend the execution of decrees.

asked the Postmaster-General if he will state separately the

Class or Subject.	Immediate Additional Annual Cost.
	Change in Hours of Duty	Other Changes.
	£	£
Substitution on higher duties	—	5,500
Long lockers and accommodation for bicycles	—	5,000
Travelling post office, lavatory accommodation	—	150
Boy sorter service to count for pension	—	350
Increased rates for overtime beyond certain limits	—	51,500
Classification of offices, London outdoor force	—	110
Postmen (on basis of present classification of offices—
London	—	18,970
Provinces	—	86,350
Auxiliary and temporary postmen	—	41,500
Assistant postmen	—	4,000
Unestablished postmen	—	1,920
Telegraphists, male	—	480
Counter clerks and telegraphists, male	—	2,120
Sorting clerks and telegraphists, male	25,000	30,100
Sorting clerks and telegraphists, female	11,600	—
Boy messengers and girl probationers to carry their pay on becoming learners	—	400
Ex-military telegraphists	—	330
Counter losses	—	550
Cable-room allowances	—	170
Allowance after passing examination for promotion	—	450
Special events	—	100
Unestablished telegraphists, sorting clerks and telegraphists, telephonists and porters	—	250
Wireless operators and overseers	—	500
Sorters	—	20,820
Assistants and returners, returned letter section (London Postal Service)	—	130
Tracing staff	—	650
Porters, London	—	6,220
Bagmen	—	490
Head porters, London	—	480
Tube attendants and night collectors (Central Telegraph Office)	—	330
Liftmen, London	—	430
Adult messengers, London	—	180
Assistant head postmen and head postmen, London	—	560
Supervision of messengers, London Postal Service	—	1,700
Supervision of messengers, Central Telegraph Office	—	150
Supervising staff, male, postal, London Postal Service	550	—
Supervising staff, male, Central Telegraph Office	—	540
Outdoor supervising staff, Provinces	2,830	5,430
Indoor supervising staff, Provinces male	10,090	4,530
Indoor supervising staff, Provinces female	280	—
Telephone learners	—	2,040
Telephonists, probationary service to count towards privileges	—	4,860
Telephonists, London Telephone Service	—	6,950
Telephonists, Provinces	11,390	4,700
Telephone supervising force, provinces	670	—
Male night operators and call office attendants	—	3,670
Caretaker-operators	—	6,600

The particulars are as follows:—

asked the Postmaster-General the number of money order, postal order, registered letter, and telegram transactions at the Bolton post office during the month of January last, or the last month for which returns are

Number of Money Orders.		Number of Postal Orders.		Registered Letters received at Counter	Telegraphic Transactions.
Issued.	Paid.	Issued.	Paid.		Handed in at Counter.	Received over Telephone.	Total Forwarded	Received.	Transmitted.
	Head Office—
558	2,208	11,631	13,752	3,498	3,276	2,117	5,393	11,662	7,335
	Branch Office—
179	17	2,215	2,994	200	415	—	415	—	—

The following return for the month of March, 1914, shows the desired information:—

asked the President of the Local Government Board whether, in view of the condition existing with regard to the sale of preserved cream and to the character of the prosecutions brought against traders, he will, in the Bill which he proposes to introduce, include a provisional figure of the percentage of boracic acid which may be used, as a maximum, in the preservation of cream, and thus enable the trade to be conducted with less uncertainty?

I would refer the hon. Member to my remarks on this subject in the Debate on the 22nd instant. I do not think that I can undertake to include in the Bill such a Clause as is suggested.

asked the Postmaster-General how much he proposes to spend during the current financial year on the extension, exclusive of replacement of plant, of the London telephone system and in the rest of the country, respectively, on exchange equipment, on subscribers' station equipment, on junction wire cables between exchanges, on subscribers' cables and distributing cables and wires, respectively?

It is estimated that the extension of the telephone system will involve the expenditure during the current financial year of approximately the following amounts:—

	London.	Provinces.
	£	£
Exchange Equipment	145,000	160,000
Subscribers' Station Equipment	70,000	120,000
Junction Wire Cables between Exchanges	95,000	250,000
Subscribers' Cables and Distributing Cables and Wires	300,000	1,000,000
Total	£610,000	£1,530,000