asked the hon. Member for St. George's-in-the-East, as representing the Insurance Commissioners, if he will state the balance at present in the hands of the Somerset County Insurance Committee, the amounts at present due to the doctors registered on the various county panels, and the amounts due to the chemists registered for the county?

The total amount due to the doctors on the Somerset panel for the year 1913 in respect of medical attendance and the supply of drugs by them in rural areas is £41,707 9s. 3d., including a balance of £1,594 13s. transferred from the Drug Suspense Fund; and the total amount due to the chemists on the panel in respect of that year is £4,945 2s. 4d., which is the total amount of the drug account for the year. In the absence of precise information as to the amount of the cash advances already made by the committee, it cannot be stated what balance of the above-mentioned sums still remains to be distributed; but the settlement of accounts by the insurance committee is in progress, and will shortly be completed.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether the statutory Return, due 31st May last, from the United National Friendly Assurance Collecting Society of Glasgow has been received, the number of persons insured, the total amount collected from them, the total expenditure, the total liabilities incurred, the amount secured to meet those liabilities, the nature and value of any security given by officers for fidelity, and by whom held, the amount of the endowment policies due to mature in 1914; what authority this society has for announcing on its collecting books Government control as one of several specially attractive features; seeing that this is calculated to put people off their guard, whether the Board will require its discontinuance or accept responsibility for the solvency of the society; and whether he can see his way to introduce a short Bill requiring such societies to make a deposit as ordinary insurance companies are required to do?

On the assumption that the particulars asked for are for the period covered by the 1913 Annual Return, the answers to the several questions are as follows: (1) Yes; (2) the number of benefit members at the end of the year was 16,656; (3) £12,477 15s. 3½d.; (4) £9,789 16s. 10½d.; (5) the total liabilities at 31st December, 1913, other than the liability in respect of benefit funds (£7,632 9s. 5d.) were shown in the balance-sheet as £2,963 11s. 9½d.; (6) the total assets at that date (excluding a sum of £5,111 13s. 3d., representing "Establishment and Organisation Account," and the Management Fund Deficiency of £2,828 6s., which appear on the assets side of the balance-sheet) were £2,656 1s. 11½d., including £1,338 8s. 1d. premiums outstanding; (7) the secretary and treasurer are each secured (by guarantee society) in sum of £50; the Annual Return does not require societies to state by whom policies are held; (8) the information is not available; (9) the Acts under which the society is registered give no authority to it for announcing on its collecting books that it is under Government control. If the hon. Member will supply the Registrar of Friendly Societies with a copy of the statement to which he refers, the Registrar will consider it, and, if necessary, make representations to the society on the subject. No responsibility for the solvency of a collecting society is or can be accepted by the Government; (10) no.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury whether, in view of the fact that loans in aid of motor fishing boats have been given by the Development Commissioners to Cornish fishermen, he will recommend similar loans being now given to Scottish fishermen for the same purpose?

The Treasury and the Development Commissioners will be prepared to consider any applications from suitable bodies in Scotland, as in other parts of the United Kingdom, for the purpose mentioned. I may observe, however, that the loan sanctioned from the Development Fund was made for the benefit not of Cornish fisheries generally, but of the fisheries at four ports where special circumstances existed, and it was made under carefully framed conditions which included the establishment of fishermen's co-operative societies.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland the amount paid into the Local Taxation (Ireland) Account each year since its formation, with the date of each payment, the date in each year at which the sufficiency or insufficiency of the account to meet its liabilities has been tested, the years, if any, in which the receipts exceeded the liabilities, with the amount of surplus in each year, the years in which the receipts have been insufficient to meet the liabilities, with the amount in each year and the total insufficiency to 31st March, 1914, which local authorities have had to find by increasing the rates; and what are the principal failing sources to which the insufficiency of this account is due?

A Return giving full information respecting the payments into and out of the Local Taxation (Ireland) Account is annually laid before Parliament. The latest Return of the kind is House of Commons Paper No. 73 of this Session. With regard to the insufficiency of the income of the Account to meet its liabilities, I would refer the hon. Member to the very full statement furnished in reply to his question on the subject on the 12th instant.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury what was the cost for each of the respective years ending 5th April, 1904 to 1914, of Poor Law relief in Great Britain, distinguishing, if possible, between the cost of indoor and outdoor relief?

The following table shows for each of the years 1904–1913 the total expenditure in England and Wales on the relief of the poor and purposes connected therewith, and, as far as practicable, the amounts expended on indoor relief and outdoor relief, which are included in the total expenditure for each year.

Figures for the year ended 31st March, 1914, are not yet available.

As regards Scottish statistics, the question should be addressed to the Secretary for Scotland.

asked the Secretary of State for War if he will state the present shortage of officers in the Regular Army, Special Reserve, and Territorial Force, respectively?

The figures are as follows:—

There is also a deficiency, in the case of the Royal Flying Corps, of some seventy officers as against the approved establishment, all the units of which however are not yet formed. It is expected that a considerable number of subalterns will shortly be gazetted. Figures for the Territorial Force are not available for a later date than 1st April.

asked what would be the deficiency in the total number of officers required in the Regular Army, Special Reserve, and Territorial Force on the mobilisation and dispatch of the Expeditionary Force?

As has before been stated, it is not customary to give mobilisation figures.

asked what is the calculated wastage of officers of the Expeditionary Force for the first six months of war?

The percentages to be allowed for wastage for the first year of a war are stated in Field Service Regulations, Part II., Section 28 (2), and the War Establishments are to be found in War Establishments, Part I. For the first six months half the yearly percentage referred to may properly be taken.

asked the Postmaster-general why it is that, in the case of the purchase of rolls of stamps for the new stamping machines, the Post Office officials refuse to accept payment by cheque; whether he knows that, in consequence of this, inconvenience and delay is caused to commercial firms and others; and whether, in view of the fact that the purchase of roll stamps is becoming increasingly popular, this rule could be altered and payment accepted by cheque, as in the case of posting boxes, licences, telephone charges, etc., from well-known and regular customers?

It is a rule of the Post Office that cheques cannot be accepted in payment for postage stamps, unless they are guaranteed by the bankers upon whom they are drawn. I do not see my way to modify this rule in favour of persons purchasing rolls of stamps, as it would be undesirable to place upon postmasters the invidious task of determining in individual cases whether cheques should be accepted or refused. The case of posting-box fees and telephone charges and licences is on a different footing, because the service or licence is earmarked to the renter or licensee, and the value of any dishonoured cheque can readily be recouped.

asked the Postmaster-General whether he will state the units of work figures relating to the Dundee post office and the cost of living index number for that town under the common cost of living standard; and whether he will state the index number necessary to place that office in Class I.?

The units of work at Dundee amount to 1,169, and the cost of living index number, adjusted to the common standard, is 110. For Class I. scales of pay 1,350 units is the minimum number requisite where the cost of living index number is 110, and 1,000 units where the cost of living index number is 111 or over.

asked the President of the Board of Trade what was the value of the total imports from the Dominion of Canada into the United States during 1912 and 1913, respectively, and the value of the imports of manufactured goods during the same years?

The following statement gives the information desired by my hon. Friend:—

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he will state for each of the years 1910, 1911, 1912, and 1913 the estimated production of steel

NOTE.—The figures for 1913 are provisional.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he will state for each of the years 1910, 1911, 1912, and 1913 the estimated production of pig-iron by the United Kingdom, the United

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has considered the desirability of obtaining a Return with reference to stillbirth interments similar to that obtained in 1891; and whether he will take steps to obtain such a Return?

It would be a difficult return to collect, and I should not be justified in calling for it unless it were clear that it would serve some definite and useful public purpose. I will consult the other Departments concerned.

by the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany and Luxembourg, France, Russia, and the world as a whole?

The following are the particulars available:—

States, Germany and Luxembourg, France, Russia, and the world as a whole?

The following are the particulars available:—

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will make public the provisions of the reform scheme for the Armenian vilayets before the Debate on the Foreign Office Vote takes place?

I am unable to publish the scheme until it has been communicated to me by the Ottoman Government, and as the Foreign Office Vote will be taken on Monday, I fear I may not be able to give definite information by then.