asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the full rate of unearned Income Tax is charged on annuities purchased through insurance companies; and, if so, whether, seeing that annuities to a considerable extent represent capital, some deduction should be allowed?

The answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. I see no reason to act contrary to the advice of the Departmental Committee on Income Tax of 1905, presided over by the late Lord Ritchie, who recommended that there should be no change in the existing law and practice as regards annuities.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the outstanding amount of the National Debt at the end of the last financial year, and how many years would be required to pay it off completely if the permanent annual charge under Section 1 of the Sinking Fund Act, 1875, were £23,500,000, as proposed in the Finance Bill for the present financial year, assuming the average purchase price of Consols to be 75 and the prices of other purchased Government securities to be as far as possible proportional?

At 31st March, 1914, the amount of the National Debt to which the fixed charge is applicable was £651,270,091, including £1,500,000 of Treasury Bills temporarily paid off. On the assumptions, mentioned in the question a fixed annual charge of £23,500,000 would completely extinguish this debt in about thirty-nine years.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will inquire into the case of John Reid, of Spring Lane, Bishopstoke, who was born on the 24th of May, 1844, at Gateshead, Newcastle, and so far has been unable to obtain his old age pension although he has no work and is in necessitous circumstances?

I am making inquiries in this matter, and will communicate with the hon. Member in due course.

asked the hon. Member for St. George's-in-the-East, as representing the Insurance Commissioners, whether the committee of a village reading room are liable to insure their caretaker under the National Insurance Act when the caretaking is done by contract?

If the Noble Lord has in mind a specific case I would suggest that full particulars of the conditions of employment should be furnished to the Commissioners, who will then consider the case.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury the amount of money received, including the Government contribution up to March, 1914, under the National Insurance Act in England, Scot- land, and Ireland, respectively; and how much of these sums was spent up to the same date on printing in each country?

The total receipts into the National Health Insurance Fund for the countries mentioned up to 31st March, 1914, including the contributions out of moneys provided by Parliament, were as follows:—

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what are the amounts proposed to be granted by the Treasury in a full year in connection with the proposed Grants towards the expenses of higher education, maintenance of lunatics by the boards of guardians, maintenance of lunatics by county and borough councils, salaries of medical officers, child detention, employment of children, and deficiency?

The amounts will vary from year to year. Based on such data as are available, the Estimates of the Grants for the first full year on account of the services mentioned are as follows for England and Wales:—

asked the Prime Minister whether he will consider the advisability of appointing a Joint Committee of both Houses of Parliament, with co-opted members, to inquire into the present method of administration of the Cadet force, to advise as to the inclusion of the youth of the nation as part of the national defence system, and to recommend under what conditions the training of the youth of the country should be secured?

I am not aware of the necessity for the appointment of any such Committee. The matter has repeatedly been discussed in Parliament.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury if he will give particulars of the Grants made by the Development Commissioners for the improvement of Irish harbours under the Development Fund Act, 1909; whether he is aware that frequent applications have been made by the Kinsale (county Cork) Harbour Commissioners for a Grant to enable them to execute some necessary work in their harbour; and if the Development Commissioners will give favourable consideration to the last appeal made by that Board?

Grants have been sanctioned from the Development Fund for harbour improvements in Ireland at the following places and to the amounts stated:—

asked the Secretary to the Admiralty when the increase of the minimum wage to the Naval Ordnance men will be paid, the Army Ordnance men having received theirs from 5th January, 1914?

Instructions on the matter will, I hope, be issued at an early date, but there were certain questions arising out of the advance in the minimum in the London district which it was considered desirable to deal with simultaneously. In the case of the Naval Ordnance Department, the advance will take effect from the same date as in that of the Army Ordnance Department, namely, 5th January last.

asked the Secretary to the Admiralty if a petition has been received from the labourers and others employed in His Majesty's dockyard at Gibraltar, pointing out that it is impossible to live on the wages now paid; if such petition has been considered; and if it has been decided to give wages advances to these men?

A petition of the kind referred to has been received, and has been considered. A reply was sent to the senior naval officer on 17th April last, for the information of the petitioners, to the effect that the application for a general advance in wages was not approved. As I stated in the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for the Blackfriars Division of Glasgow on the 11th June, I have not had an opportunity of investigating the conditions on the spot since 1911, but I am making further inquiries into the matter.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether his attention has been called to the fact that, while the barrack labourers and conservancy men have been granted an increase of pay, the caretakers have been overlooked; and will he look into the matter?

This matter is being adjusted.

asked the Financial Secretary to the War Office whether the short time being worked in the forges at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, will soon be over and the normal forty-eight hours weekly resumed?

I am afraid there is no immediate prospect of sufficient work becoming available to require the working of full time.

asked the Financial Secretary to the War Office whether, having regard to the fact that the conditions of service of messengers at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, and the hours of service have not been revised for eight years, he can now see his way to grant them a forty-eight-hour week, thus bringing them into line with other departments with regard to overtime service?

So far as hours are concerned, there has been nothing in the past eight years to call for any change in the conditions under which these men serve. I would refer the hon. Member to my reply on this subject last April.

asked the President of the Board of Education what number of local authorities have established, or are in process of establishing, medical clinics for school children?

According to the latest complete returns received from local education authorities in England and Wales, those returns being in respect of the year ending 31st March, 1914, 115 authorities have established clinics for the treatment of children attending public elementary schools. The total number of clinics is, approximately, 200.

asked the President of the Board of Education whether, since the appearance of the Report of the Royal Commission on the Civil Service, any appointments have been made to the post of examiner; if so, whether the appointments have been made by transfer from the inspectorate, or by promotion from the clerical staff, or by the previous methods of appointment by nomination from outside; and, if by the latter method, whether the persons appointed have any special experience or qualifications, other than academic, outside the service?

Since the appearance of the Report of the Royal Commission on the Civil Service I have appointed two junior examiners. One of these officers, who acquired professional qualifications by serving his term of articles with a firm of solicitors and passing the final examination with honours, had already been employed in my Department for more than six months on temporary work before being placed on the establishment. The other, who has not yet taken up work, is being transferred direct from the Indian Civil Service, subject to the consent of the Secretary of State for India.

asked the President of the Board of Education whether he can state approximately the extra cost to the ratepayers and to the Treasury, respectively, if the Children (Employment and School Attendance) Bill, as amended in Committee, is passed into law and its provisions are fully adopted and carried out by all the local education authorities in England and Wales?

On the hypothesis which the hon. Member proposes all local education authorities would, on the passing of the Bill, keep all children in school till fifteen, make by-laws regulating the employment of children under Clause 4 of the Bill, and require all children affected by the by-laws, and all children to whom licences for street trading were issued under Clause 6 of the Bill, to attend continuation classes for not less than eight hours a week up to the age of sixteen. It is certain that there would be no such general exercise of the powers which it confers, and I do not think that any useful purpose would be served at present by attempting to frame an estimate on the hypothesis suggested.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if two women, unconvicted prisoners, are being forcibly fed three times daily in the Ipswich gaol; and whether he will order the release of the two women prisoners and the abandonment of the criminal proceedings that have been instituted against them?

No women prisoners are being forcibly fed in Ipswich Prison. The two women to whom reference is probably made have been convicted of arson and removed to another prison.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether any religious service is held at the burial of a body of a person executed for murder; and, if not, whether there is any legal impediment to the holding of such a service by the chaplain of the gaol?

The answer to the first question is in the affirmative; the second does not arise.

asked the Home Secretary whether he is now in a position to state what arrangements he has been able to make with the police authorities and with the directors of the Regent's Canal Company with a view to preventing the loss of life of children by drowning in the canal?

I have been and still am in correspondence with the company, and am not yet in a position to answer the question.

asked the President of the Local Government Board if he is aware that the Eastbourne Board of Guardians have let the contract for an extension of the workhouse to a firm that refuses to pay the standard rate of wage to their workmen; whether the name of that firm was submitted to him before the contract was let; and whether he has the power to enforce the provisions of the Fair-Wages Clause in connection with this contract?

I have received letters from the Eastbourne and District Trades and Labour Council and from the local branch of the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners to the effect that the guardians have accepted a tender from a firm who, it is alleged, are not paying the recognised district rate of wages to the whole of their employés. The answer to the second and third parts of the question is in the negative. The Local Government Board in 1911 issued a circular to boards of guardians—among other local authorities—recommending that a Fair-Wages Clause should be inserted in all contracts. I am sending a copy of the communications I have received to the guardians, drawing their attention to the circular.

asked the President of the Local Government Board whether his attention has been called to the fact that the vaccination officer of the Bethnal Green Union has sent to a number of parents a final notice that unless he receives the requisite vaccination certificate within ten days from date he will institute legal proceedings at Old Street Police Court; whether such notice has been submitted to and approved of by the Board; and, if not, whether he will instruct the officer to adhere strictly to the wording of the notices as set out in the Board's Order and prescribed form?

I have seen the document referred to by the hon. Member. Such a notice is not one of those required by Statute or Regulation.

asked the President of the Local Government Board whether it is necessary for the Local Government Board to issue an Order or Regulation sanctioning arrangements by local authorities under Section 3 of the Public Health (Prevention and Treatment of Disease) Act, 1913, in regard to the giving of domiciliary treatment, including the provision of milk, eggs, meat, bread, etc., to uninsured persons suffering from tuberculosis; whether any such Order or Regulation has been issued; and if not, at what date it is proposed to issue such Order or Regulation?

The sanction of the Board is required under Section 3 of the Public Health (Prevention and Treatment of Disease) Act, 1913, to any arrangements proposed to be made by a local authority for the domiciliary treatment of uninsured persons suffering from tuberculosis, but this sanction need not necessarily take the form of an Order or Regulation, and no Order or Regulation has been issued.

asked the Postmaster-General whether he is aware that there was a large sorting office built at Hanwell eight years ago, a portion of which could easily be converted into a proper post office, instead of using the present grocer's shop; what objection there is for carrying out this proposal, and whether, in fact, the existing arrangements of the Post Office are exactly as they were when Hanwell was a small village?

The volume of business transacted at the existing sub-post offices serving the district of Hanwell is insufficient, even if it could be concentrated at one spot, to warrant the large expense incidental to maintaining an office devoted solely to Post Office work. The question of using a portion of the sorting office premises for a public post office does not, therefore, arise. There was only one post office in Hanwell until 1902, and only two until 1904. The arrangements are, therefore, not the same as when Hanwell was a small village.

asked the Postmaster-General what action he is taking in regard to the proposed establishment of week-end cable letters at reduced rates to India?

The service in question was introduced on the 1st May last. It was fully announced in the public Press.

asked the Postmaster-General when he is likely to introduce the one-clause Bill which he promised in his speech on the Post Office Estimates, 24th April, 1913, for the purpose of treating newspapers published in the whole of the sixty Dominions, Colonies, and States beyond the sea, including India, as regards postal rates as if they were printed in the United Kingdom?

The promised Bill was duly introduced last year, and received the Royal Assent on the 15th August.

asked the Postmaster-General whether any steps have yet been taken to protect submarine cables from damage by fishing vessels and by ships' anchors on the part of the International Conference convened last year in the House of Lords at the instance of the Post Office and the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries?

The International Conference in question was convened with a view to induce other countries to adopt the steps for the protection of submarine cables from damage by fishing vessels, etc., which had been in operation in this country for some years. It was successful in this object.

asked the President of the Board of Agriculture whether his attention has been called to the condition of the Stoughton estate, in the county of Leicester; whether he is aware that sixty-three purchasers, although having paid their deposits in July last, are unable to get completion of their purchases and are unable to get their positions denned as to whether they are owners, tenants, or trespassers; and whether he will consider the advisability of instituting an inquiry locally on the subject, in view of the better regulation of sales of property in the future?

The Board have no knowledge of the case to which the hon. and gallant Gentleman refers, but if he will let me have further information on the subject I shall be glad to let him know if the Board of Agriculture has any power to intervene.

asked the President of the Board of Agriculture whether he can give any information as to the progress made in experiments with serum treatment for swine fever carried out recently at Hanwell Asylum or elsewhere; and whether any further proposals are in contemplation for dealing with this question?

I cannot at present usefully add anything to the statements made on this subject by the hon. Member for the Rye Division and by myself in the course of the Debate on Tuesday last.

asked the Attorney-General what steps have been taken to ensure that the moneys subscribed by the public to the fraudulent National Old Age Pension Trust shall be returned to them; and if he is aware that the promoter (Tarender) of the National Old Age Pension Trust is again engaged in securing a fresh connection under a new scheme which he has launched?

The Court has sanctioned a settlement of the case, under which the trust is to be wound up, the assets being disposed of as the Court may direct. As the assets have not yet been realised, some time must elapse before any division of the funds can be made, and it is not at present possible to say what amount will be available for distribution to the subscribers. With regard to the second part of the question, referring presumably to Taverner (not Tarender, as printed in the question), I have no information.