asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, in his statement to the people of Ipswich as to the amount they would get out of the Budget, he had in mind the first or the second edition thereof; and what will now be the amount which Ipswich will receive?

I referred to the amount receivable in the first full year. That amount remains the same.

asked how much money 1d. in the £ on the Income Tax will produce; and what is the total amount of the Grants now to be omitted from the Budget?

I would refer the hon. Member to the White Paper which was issued on Tuesday last (House of Commons, No. 293).

asked at what rate Income Tax will be deducted by the Bank of England from the dividends on Government stock due in the first week of July?

Tax will be deductible at the rate of 1s. 4d. in the £.

asked why the increased Income Tax is charged on the whole amount of dividends on foreign securities payable after the 5th April, and in the case of English securities on that portion only that has accrued since that date?

By various statutory enactments, Income Tax is chargeable at the increased rate not only on the dividends and interest from foreign securities, but also on the dividends and interest from British Funds and certain other sources of income arising in the United Kingdom. It is only in the case of ground rents, dividends, interest, etc., payable out of profits arising in this country and charged to Income Tax by direct assessment that tax is deductible at the rates in force in the period during which the income has been accruing.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the position in respect of Income Tax of a company whose dividend, alredy declared, is payable early in July if, prior to that date, the rate is altered from 1s. 4d, to 1s. 3d., seeing that the tax now being deducted from such dividend is at the rate of 1s. 4d. in the £ in accordance with the only authoritative Resolution passed by the House of Commons; whether he is aware of the trouble caused by the necessity for calculating in respect of a dividend for the four months ending 30th April, 1914, of 1s. 2½d. in the £, being three months at 1s. 2d. and one month at 1s. 4d., in writing the dividend warrants for this amount, which is in order since he has stated that 1s. 4d. at present holds the field; whether, in calculating the tax at 1s. 2¼d., which will be the rate if the House eventually decides on a 1s. 3d. rate, he is conscious of the hardship to recipients of dividends caused by the delay occasioned by the necessity for rewriting the warrants; what compensation it is proposed to give for the expense and trouble caused by the conduct of the Treasury in regard to Income Tax in the current financial year; how refunds are to be made when shares have changed hands; and whether the expense of following up the beneficiaries in such cases will be borne by the Exchequer?

Pending any further action of this House, the tax would be deductible at accruing rates of 1s. 2d. and 1s. 4d. As regards the second and third parts of the question, some inconvenience to the taxpayer is inevitable whenever there is a change in the rate of Income Tax, but I am considering what steps can be taken to reduce the inconvenience to a minimum. With regard to the last two parts of the question, I would point out that the dividend is paid out of profits charged to Income Tax by direct assessment on the company, and the question of the deduction of the tax on payment of the dividend is one for settlement between the company and the shareholder in which it would not be practicable for the Crown to intervene.

asked (1) when the Government proposes to equalise the incidence of Liquor Duty and licences as between England and Ireland, and as between London and the rest of the United Kingdom; and (2) whether 64 per cent. of the profits of Messrs. Barclay, Perkins and Company go to the Imperial Government for duty and licences; and, if so, what steps the Government proposes to take in order to reduce such taxation?

I am not at present prepared to introduce legislation reopening the general question of the taxation of liquor and liquor licences, but I may refer the hon. Member to the reply given to him on the 18th instant by my hon. Friend the Secretary to the Treasury. My attention has not been specially called to the balance-sheet of the company mentioned.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his attention has been called to the late decision of the Scottish High Court; and whether he now proposes to issue directions for Scotland pointing out that an employer cannot be compelled to stamp insurance cards if his employés do not present them to him for the purpose of being stuck on?

I have nothing to add to my reply to the hon. Member on Monday last, in which I pointed out that he is under a misapprehension as to the effect of the decision in question.

asked the hon. Member for St. George's-in-the-East, as representing the Insurance Commissioners, whether he is aware that two forms have been issued by the Commissioners under the National Insurance Act relating to claims for maternity benefit, the one requiring the person who pays the benefit to make a declaration that he has seen the marriage certificate of the claimant, while the other has no such declaration; whether he is aware that the rules of most approved societies provide that the production of such certificates may be called for; and, as such rules have been sanctioned and approved by the Commissioners, will he issue such instructions as will prevent the officials of approved societies being harassed by the auditors demanding such declarations in every instance, and for the withdrawal of the form requiring such declaration?

The auditors must be satisfied that the society has had evidence of marriage, as the right to benefit and therefore the charges upon both societies' funds and the Exchequer are affected; and special arrangements have therefore been made for the supply of cheap marriage certificates. It was recognised, however, that actual production of the marriage certificate, though ordinarily the most convenient form of evidence, will not be necessary in all cases— e.g., where a responsible officer of the society certifies to his personal knowledge of the marriage or a certificate has been already produced in support of an earlier claim. While, therefore, the original forms suggested for societies' use contained the question referred to, it has been omitted from the revised forms issued in connection with the new maternity provisions and now in use by societies.

asked what was the total sum received by the various insurance committees in any recent year or half-year; and how much was paid in the same period apart from the cost of administration for medical and sanatorium benefits?

The total sums issued to insurance committees during the year to 11th January, 1914, amounted to £5,414,000. As regards medical benefit, the whole amount available is being distributed; as regards sanatorium benefit, the information asked for will not be available until the audited accounts have been received.

also asked the amount of the expenditure of the various insurance committees upon administration in any recent year or half-year, stating separately the amount paid to members of the committees for travelling and other expenses and for loss of time?

The details of expenditure asked for will not be available until the audited account of insurance committees to 11th January, 1914, have been received.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the estimated percentage increase in wages in the period 1903–4 to 1913–14, and what is the estimated percentage increase in the average incomes of Income Tax payers is the same period?

The Board of Trade inform me, after exhaustive inquiry, that no records exist showing the increase in the income of wage-earners as a whole. I fear I am therefore unable to answer the first part of the hon. Member's question. As regards the second part, the percentage increase in the estimated average taxable income of Income Tax payers in the period 1903–4 to 1913–14 is 2.1, the number of such persons having increased in the same period by 25.3 per cent.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the number of the valuations made so far under Part I. of the Finance (1909–10) Act, 1910, in which the assessable site value has been a minus quantity; what has been the largest minus quantity arrived at so far in England and Wales; what is the largest minus quantity arrived at so far in Scotland; and to what specific feature or features of the valuations of assessable site value as denned by that Act the minus quantity results are attributable?

I regret that the information asked for in the first three parts of the question is not separately recorded in district offices, and the analysis of the valuations for the purpose of obtaining it would involve an expenditure of time and labour in those offices which, in the circumstances of its temporary value I regret I cannot sanction. With regard to the last part, I understand that minus site values are most frequently attributable to the deduction required by law, of the capitalised value of fixed charges, commonly secured on both land and buildings, which may exceed the value of the bare land.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will consider the advisability of providing more equitable treatment of clerical tithe in the matter of local taxation, seeing that no deduction is allowed from the gross current value as compensation for the expense and labour attached to earning this class of tithe, and that it is only a temporary Act renewed yearly under the Expiring Laws Continuance Act?

My right hon. Friend has asked me to reply to this question. I am afraid I cannot hold out hopes of further relief being given at the present time beyond the relief proposed for the benefit of ratepayers in general.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether any local authorities have been informed provisionally of the share they will receive of the Road Grant of £2,480,000; and, if not, what data have been supplied them to enable them to work out the Grants they will receive?

I have no knowledge of any intimation having been given to local authorities of the share of the Road Grant which they will receive, or any data enabling them to estimate what that share may be.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the Return, now in course of preparation, giving a provisional approximate classification of the roads in the country, will give the provisional mileage of the first and second-class roads in each county and county borough and the approximate cost of maintenance and upkeep for 1915–16, so that the House may know how the proposed Grant for roads of £2,480,000 is to be provisionally allocated?

Every effort will be made to make the provisional classification as complete as possible, both as regards mileage and estimated cost of maintenance.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury whether it is intended to abolish the competitive examinations for junior appointments in the Admiralty and a group of situations in other Departments of the Civil Service, according to a Report by a Royal Commission recently issued; if so, when will the last of these examinations under the present Regulations be held; when will the new Regulations be issued; and what time will elapse after the issue of the new Regulations before they will be put in force?

The questions referred to by my hon. Friend are at present under consideration.

asked the hon. Member for St. George's-in-the-East, as representing the First Commissioner of Works, whether he is aware that the foot-bridge in Park Road, Regent's Part, is still unfinished; and when the inhabitants of this district may hope for a restoration of this access to Regent's Park?

The First Commissioner hopes that it will be possible to open the bridge in about ten days' time. Delay has been caused by the building dispute.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland if a circular was recently issued to managers of national schools whose staffs have teachers in training intimating that unless third grade salary is paid to the substitute by the teacher in training the salary of the teacher in training will be withheld; and. have the managers of convent schools, retaining the services of lay assistants, been asked the actual salaries paid to lay assistants and warned that unless the Board's fixed minimum is paid the Grants will be withheld, or have any other and, if so, what effective steps been taken to ensure that the lay assistants, who at present are paid less than that minimum will be paid the full allowance in the future, and that they will also be paid the arrears that have accumulated since their several appointments?

The Commissioners of National Education inform me that no such circular has been issued, but that the issue of such a circular is in contemplation. There is a rule in the Commissioners' code which sets forth the remuneration that must in all cases be paid to lay assistants in convent schools, and the terms are strictly enforced by the Commissioners.

asked the reason of refusing an old age pension to Bernard Mahon, of Edgeworthstown, Ballinalee sub-district; whether the local pension officer reported in favour of the grant but was overruled by his superior in Cavan; whether it is the man on the spot or the man 50 miles away whose advice the Local Government Board follows; and, if the former, why is the pension refused?

An appeal has been lodged by the pension officer against the pension awarded to Bernard Mahon on the ground of insufficient evidence of age. The case is at present under consideration of the Local Government Board, and it will be decided when all the necessary particulars have been furnished to them.

asked the Chief Secretary why Daniel Farrell, of New-town, Killashee sub-pension district, has been refused an old age pension; whether he is aware that this man has resigned all his contracts owing to advancing age and is now dependent on his married son for his support; and will he direct that the pension passed for him be granted?

An appeal has been lodged against the decision of the pension committee to grant a pension to Daniel Farrell on the ground of excessive means. The Local Government Board are at present making inquiries into the case.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland, whether he has communicated with the Estates Commissioners requesting them to direct a second inspection of the lands of Coolcraff, North Longford, which the landlord, Mr. James W. Bond, D.L., professes his anxiety to sell to the Estates Commissioners for the relief of congestion; and, if not, will he now do so?

I have communicated with the Estates Commissioners who are not prepared to have a further inspection made of these lands.

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if he will state whether, in the matter of the Ballymulvey farm, near Ballymahon, he has requested the Estates Commissioners to reconsider their offer to the landlord, who is now willing to accept £3,000, and with what result?

The Estates Commissioners inform me that they have reconsidered this matter and cannot increase their estimate of the price they would be prepared to offer for the lands if sold to them for the purpose of distribution.

asked the grounds on which the Estates Commissioners decline to allow John Breslin, of Esker, county Longford, Ireland, estate, to have his farm divided into two parts in order to facilitate some family arrangement which would mean no loss whatever to the State?

The sub-division of the holding purchased by Mr. John Breslin was refused by the Land Commissioners in the exercise of the discretion vested in them under the provisions of the Land Purchase Acts which prohibit the subdivision or sub-letting of a purchased holding without their consent. The Commissioners have already on the application of the hon. Member reconsidered the application in this case, and are unable to depart from the decision already come to in the matter.

asked the Secretary of State for War how many officers in the Special Reserve, other than those promoted to fill vacancies, have been promoted to the rank of captain with less than ten years' service in the Special Reserve?

Three officers of the Royal Engineers, Special Reserve, have been promoted to the rank of captain after ten years, including Militia service, under a special decision by which service in the late Royal Engineer Militia was allowed to count.

asked the Undersecretary of State for India when the Import Duty on petroleum of 1½ annas per gallon was instituted in India; and whether there is any countervailing Excise Duty?

The Import Duty on petroleum was imposed in 1888 at the rate of ½ anna per gallon, and was increased in 1894 to 1 anna per gallon, and again in 1910 to 1½ annas per gallon. There is no countervailing Excise Duty.

asked the Undersecretary of State for India when the Secretary of State will be prepared to make a statement regarding the Tibetan settlement?

The Secretary of State regrets that he is unable at present to name any date.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for India whether he can give the House any information regarding the assassination of Salzendar Nath Sen in Calcutta on the 19th instant; and whether the victim was in company with an approver in the Dacca conspiracy case when he was shot?

The murder was at Chittagong, not in Calcutta. It is thought that the murdered man, Satyendra Sen, was mistaken for an approver in the Dacca conspiracy case, but I do not know whether the latter was in his company.

asked the Under-Secretary for India whether he is aware that the cost of living for officers of the Indian Army quartered in Burma is in excess of the similar expenses in India in the case of wages, the average being almost double; whether he is aware that the Government of India had a Report on the subject furnished to them by the Burma Allowance Committee in 1910–11; and whether he can say what steps, if any, are being taken to assist officers to meet the expenses, they are put to, especially in view of the fact that officers of the British Army are in certain cases allowed extra monthly allowances to meet the extra cost of living, under A. R. I., Volume I., paragraphs 279–280?

The Secretary of State is aware that in some respects the cost of living is higher in Burma than in most parts of India. The Burma Allowance Committee was concerned only with the question of local allowances for officers in civil employ in Burma. British officers of certain Indian regiments in Burma representing the old Burma battalions receive a local allowance of Rs. 100 a month, but the allowance is not admissible to officers of other Indian regiments quartered in Burma. The Secretary of State is not aware that the Government of India have received representations on the subject. He will bring the hon. Member's question to their notice.

asked the Postmaster-General when letters posted in London on Saturdays after 7 p.m. are delivered in the North and Midlands of Ireland; and is advantage taken of the Sunday mail service which arrives at Kingstown at 5 p.m. on Sundays?

Letters posted in London on Saturdays after 7 p.m. but before 9 p.m. in ordinary letter-boxes, about 10 p.m. at the district offices and 10.30 p.m. at the General Post Office, should, in the North and Midlands of Ireland, fall into the first delivery on Monday morning. They would be dispatched by the mail packet which arrives at Kingstown at 4.45 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he can give the increase in the last ten years in yards of cotton cloth exported from the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, and the United States of America, respectively?

The following statement gives the information desired by my hon. Friend, so far as the varying units used in the several countries permit:—

asked the President of the Board of Trade who are conducting the investigation into the mortality of seamen; what form this investigation is taking; whether witnesses are being called; and whether he will give the terms of reference?

The investigations to which the hon. and gallant Member refers are being conducted by Mr. E. G. Moggridge, Mr. E. W. Colvill, Mr. C. Hipwood, Mr. T. F. Jenkins, and Captain A. H. F. Young, of the Board of Trade; Dr. A. Newsholme, C.B., of the Local Government Board; and Dr. T. H. C. Stevenson, of the General Register Office. They are considering the mortality among seamen on British merchant ships as shown in the vital statistics, with a view to reporting what steps are desirable to diminish that mortality and how far such steps will need legislation. They will, if necessary, take evidence.

asked the President of the Board of Trade how many examiners of masters and mates have been superannuated during the past ten years; what has been their length of service; and what amount of annual superannuation has been granted to them in each case?

Two examiners of masters and mates have been superannuated during the past ten years. They each had thirty-one years' service, and the annual superannuation allowance granted was £206 13s. 4d. and £222 3s. 4d., respectively. During the same period a third examiner retired after thirty-three years' service, but he was not entitled to superannuation. He received a gratuity on retirement.

asked the President of the Board or Trade whether, as regards the inspection of ships' medicine chests by nautical surveyors at those ports where sanitary surveyors are not stationed,

he will consider the desirability of appointing sanitary surveyors possessing the requisite qualifications for efficiently carrying out the duties of an inspection of this character, and also for the purpose of systematic and efficient inspection of the accommodation provided for officers and men and all other matters appertaining to hygiene on board ship?

As I informed the hon. and gallant Member on 25th May, the question whether, and, if so, in what respect the Board's medical staff needs to be strengthened will be considered in connection with the investigation into the mortality of seamen which is now being held.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether any steps have been taken by his Department in connection with the dispute arising out of the dismissal of trade unionists on the Lilford estate?

The information at the disposal of the Department does not indicate that it is practicable to take steps in connection with this dispute.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether an inquiry into the rate of pay and conditions of service of lighthouse keepers and assistants in Scotland is being held; and, if not, whether he will take steps to institute such an inquiry?

Such an inquiry has already taken place with the result that the Board of Trade have sanctioned as from 1st April last the proposals made to them by the general lighthouse authorities on behalf of lighthouse keepers and others.

asked the Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture (Ireland), if he is aware that a detachable motor for fishing boats has been invented by the Americans, and that it can be fixed in a boat at the expense of about £20; whether he is aware that the Norwegian Government has provided their fishermen with 5,000 of these motors; and will the Department of Agriculture consider the advisability of advancing loans to Irish fishermen for the purpose of enabling them to acquire motors for their boats?

The Department are aware that several types of detachable marine motors, from two to four horse-power, are on the market, and that some of these types are in use in Ireland. The Department have issued loans amounting to about £40,000 to fishermen, to enable them to provide themselves with motor boats, to instal motor power in existing boats, and to provide fishing gear for these boats, and will continue to make loans for those purposes so far as their funds permit.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the reform scheme for the Armenian vilayets has been approved by the representatives of the Great Powers; and whether the duties conferred on the European Commissioners under the scheme include the administrative control of the gendarmerie?

The representatives of the Powers in Constantinople have approved the reform scheme, which was submitted to them in the form of a draft, but I feel that I cannot properly inform the hon. Member of its details until I have received formal communication of it from the Turkish Government.