asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, in Clause 1, line 10, of the Revenue Bill, the term rateable value is intended to have the same meaning as is attached to it under the Parochial Assessment Act, 1836?

The answer is in the affirmative. Rateable value is a general term which is quite well known and is used in the Schedule to the Parochial Assessment Act, 1836, and also in the Metropolis Valuation Act, 1869.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether it is proposed to make use of the full site value as adjusted in Clause 1 (a) of the Revenue Bill for the assessment of rates?

I cannot anticipate the general proposals with regard to rating which the Government propose to place before the House.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury why assistant clerks, new class, in the General Register and Record Office of Shipping and Seamen when promoted to the second division have to forfeit allowances of £20, whilst assistant clerks, new class, in the Customs and Excise Department retain allowances of £30 on promotion to the same grade?

The clerks in the Seamen's Registry have been treated in accordance with the rule universally applied in all Departments, except in the Customs and Excise, where especial circumstances led the Treasury many years ago to make an exception to the general rule.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury if he will lay upon the Table a statement showing how the Grant to the British Bee-Keepers' Association has been, or is being, utilised; and whether those interested in the bee-keeping industry can have facilities for inspecting the various documents and vouchers relating to the said Grant?

The Annual Report of the Development Commission, which will shortly be laid upon the Table, will give full information with regard to the expenditure of the Grant to the British Bee-Keepers' Association. I regret to be unable to accord the facilities asked for in the last part of the question.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the estimated amount of the additional taxation which will become payable by Ireland under the Finance Bill, as now proposed to be amended, for the year 1914–15, and the amount of the additional Grants proposed to be made to Ireland during that year?

The position of Ireland in this respect is set out in the following tables:—

I.—Estimated Yield of Additional Taxation in Ireland. Head of Taxation. Estimated Yield in 1914–14. Estimated Yield in 1915–16. Under Original Proposals. Under Present Proposals. Under Original Proposals. Under Present Proposals. £ £ £ £ Estate, etc., Duties … … 20,000 19,000 75,000 70,000 Income Tax … … … 164,000 84,000 185,000 170,000 Super-tax … … … 75,000 75,000 *175,000 *175,000 Total … … … 259,000 178,000 *435,000 *415,000 * Including £35,000 arrears.

II.—Total Grants to Ireland. Grant. 1914–15. 1915–16. Under Original Proposals. Under Present Proposals. Under Original Proposals. Under Present Proposals. £ £ £ £ Additional Local Taxation Grants 172,000 — 630,000 As before. National Insurance … … 52,000 52,000 65,000 Tuberculosis, etc. … … 22,500 22,500 67,500 Total … … 246,500 74,500 762,500 762,500

asked the Secretary to the Treasury who are the Public Works Loans Commissioners; what is the amount of the funds that they administer; under what Vote do they come before this House; and what control, if any, has the Treasury over them?

The Commissioners are as follows:— Sir Herbert Barnard. The Hon. Herbert C. Gibbs (Deputy-Chairman). E. Norman, Esq. (Chairman). 1244 His Honour, Judge O'Connor, K.C. The Hon. Sir C. W. Fremantle, K.C.B. The Hon. Evelyn Hubbard. E. H. Lloyd, Esq. The Right Hon. Lord Newlands. W. Douro Hoare, Esq. R. L. Newman, Esq. The Right Hon. the Earl of Chichester. Charles Cave Cave, Esq. Sir J. Herbert Roberts, M.P. Laurence Currie, Esq. A. B. Leslie-Melville, Esq. Anthony de Rothschild, Esq. Alfred Mildmay, Esq. Sir T. H. Elliott, K.C.B.

The maximum amounts within which they may make advances are laid down annually by Parliament in a Public Works Loans Act; the total amount of their advances outstanding are stated in their annual reports. The Vote for the Commission is No. 22 of Class II. of the Civil Service Estimates. As regards their relations to the Treasury I would refer the hon. Member to the Act 38–39 Vic, c. 89.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury the number of assistant clerks who, in each of the last five years, have been recommended by the heads of their Departments for promotion to the second division; and the number of instances in which the Treasury has withheld its sanction?

As far as I have been able to ascertain them, the figures are as follow:— Promotion of Assistant Clerks to Second Division. — No. of Cases Recommended. No. of Cases Refused. 1909 47 1 1910 38 2 1911 78 — 1912 89 3 1913 77 6

asked the hon. Member for St. George's-in-the-East, as representing the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, whether he is aware that the deficiency on the administration account of the Kincardineshire County Insurance Committee for the eighteen months ending 11th January, 1914, amounted to £109 10s. 11d., and that the apparent deficiency for the year 1914–15 will be over £125; and if he can now announce to the House whether any arrangement has been arrived at whereby all county insurance committees in Scotland will be provided with sufficient funds for administrative purposes?

My right hon. Friend hopes to make an announcement on this subject at an early date.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he can state if, in case a teacher became entitled to promotion in the month of December of the current year, his promotion would date from the 1st April, 1914, or from the 1st April, 1915; whether, under the old results system, when a teacher obtained promotion at the July examinations, his promotion dated from the previous 1st of April; and can he state why the Commissioners of National Education departed from this practice when the new system was introduced?

The Commissioners of National Education inform me that, as a rule, a teacher is promoted from the 1st April following the completion of the period which the Commissioners consider has rendered him eligible by efficient service for promotion. The rule as regards promotion in classification under the Regulations in force prior to 1900 was practically as stated in the question, and substantially the same as the present Regulation. The promotion dated from the 1st April in the year in which the teacher passed the necessary examination, which was held in the month of July of that year. But teachers seeking promotion had to notify their intention to attend the examination on or before the 1st January, and were not admitted unless their previous service was sufficiently long and satisfactory in other respects.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland if he will state the acreage and Poor Law valuation of the bog held by Captain Smyth, vendor of the Coole estate, Westmeath, and not sold under the Land Purchase Acts; whether the Estates Commissioners or the Agricultural Department ascertained the price at which he would sell the bog; and whether it is saleable under the Land Purchase Acts to a company of local people formed for the purpose of purchasing it to found a peat industry?

The Estates Commissioners understand that the portion of the bog which was not sold under the Land Purchase Acts contains some 390 acres. They are not in a position to state the Poor Law valuation. The Commissioners are not aware of the price at which the vendor would sell the bog. The answer to the last paragraph of the question would appear to be in the negative.

also asked whether Captain Smyth, vendor of the Coole estate, Westmeath, has any title to the bog there of which he purports to be the owner; if so, will he state its origin, date, nature, by whom conferred, and for what consideration; whether the title to the bog is expressly conferred; whether separately or as part of the adjoining land; and whether any document held to be a title to the bog, or a copy of it, can be seen in the Estates Commissioners' office?

The Estates Commissioners inform me that some 250 acres of turbary were included in the lands sold to the purchasing tenants on this estate under the Irish Land Acts, and the owner furnished the requisite evidence as to his title to sell. It would be entirely contrary to their practice for the Land Commission to answer inquiries as regards vendors' titles such as those asked by the hon. Member in this case.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland if he will state the number of persons holding licences under the Licensing Acts who were reported by Mr. Commissioner Maxwell at the Castle-island election petitions for suffering treating to take place on their licensed premises and for corruptly providing drink; and if he will also state the population of Castleisland, the valuation, and the number of persons holding licences under the Licensing Acts in the year 1908?

Nine persons holding licences were reported by Mr. Maxwell. Three of these were guilty of the double offence of suffering "treating" to take place on their licensed premises and for corruptly providing drink. The population of Castleisland, according to the latest Census, 1911, was 1,333. There were forty-eight persons licensed in Castleisland in 1908, and the valuation of their premises was £372 5s.

asked the Chief Secretary how many Returns have been made since the year 1905, giving the names of the persons appointed to the commission of the peace in Ireland; and if he will state the date of each Return and the date that it was presented to Parliament?

Six Returns of the kind have been presented to Parliament since the year 1905, inclusive, namelv— Year. No. Date of Return. Date Presented to Parliament. 1905 118 7th April, 1905. 10th April, 1905 1906 136 12th April, 1906. 26th April, 1906 1908 153 20th May, 1908 22nd May, 1908 1910 182 17th May, 1910 20th June, 1910 1911 306 15th Aug., 1911 30th Oct., 1911 1912 396 30th Nov., 1912 16th Dec, 1912

asked the Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture (Ireland) what was the nature of the work proposed to be carried out at Blackwater, county Wexford, and at what cost; and when the Department expects to be in a position to proceed with it?

The designs prepared was for a timber landing stage or pier strengthened by concrete blocks, the cost of which was provisionally estimated at £2,283. The Department have not at present any expectation of being in a position to provide the balance of the cost over and above the contribution voted by the county council.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty what inquiries were made before a man named Marcus D. Walsh, of Kilmurry, Castleisland, was appointed a writer in the Royal Navy; whether Marcus D. Walsh has absconded or deserted and a warrant has been issued for his arrest, and with what result; whether any other person from the same district was appointed a writer in the Royal Navy about the same time and has also absconded or deserted; if so, what is the name and address of the person; and what inquiries were made before he was appointed?

No writer of the name mentioned can be traced. Candidates for entry are required to bring with them a birth certificate, evidence of previous occupation, and an unbroken record of very good character and conduct.

asked the Secretary for the Colonies whether he is aware that guano phosphate from Ocean Island is recognised as the most valuable in the market and sells for £3 17s. per ton wholesale in Australia; if he will state the value at this rate of all the guano phosphate exported from Ocean Island since it became a British Possession; the total payments made for it to public funds by the Pacific Phosphate Company in that time; and, seeing that this valuable monopoly was obtained by misrepresentation and without reasonable consideration, whether the Colonial Office will cancel the concession, and, if unable, whether it will have the concession cancelled by a Court of Equity?

I do not know what is the selling price of Ocean Island phosphate in Australia. The total payments for it to public funds by the company in the last ten years have been over £30,000. I am not prepared to agree that the monopoly was obtained by misrepresentation, or to take any steps for its cancellation.

asked the Secretary for the Colonies for what reason the inquiry promised into the maladministration of Ocean Island was rendered worthless by consulting only persons involved, removing immediately before it the persons accused of the gravest offences, taking no evidence from natives or from Europeans friendly to them, and not publishing either evidence or Report; what measures he proposes to take to counteract the impression thus made and release the island from what is in effect the rule of the Pacific Phosphate Company, owing to that company's connection with the Colonial Office and power over its officials there; and if he will say what objection there is to holding an independent public inquiry and publishing the result of it?

I have to refer the hon. Member to the replies given on 5th April, 1909, and 24th July, 1912, to previous questions as to the inquiry made by the High Commissioner in 1905 into the administration of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Protectorate. I am not aware of the existence of the impression referred to, and see no reason for holding any further inquiry into matters which occurred over ten years ago.

also asked the number of natives living by their own land on Ocean Island at the time it became a British Possession; the number so living now; the number deprived of their land for inability to pay food tax and now forced labourers on Government works and the Phosphate Company's works, respectively; and, if a full record is kept of the floggings, the total number of labourers flogged on those two classes of works?

I do not know the precise number of natives living on Ocean Island when it became a British Possession; the present population is about 1,600 of whom about 480 are natives of the island. Natives have not been deprived of their lands for inability to pay taxes or forced to labour on Government works or for the company, and there are no grounds for supposing that floggings are inflicted under the circumstances suggested by the hon. Member.

next asked the Secretary for the Colonies if he can state, when the natives of Ocean Island complain of pressure put upon them by the resident Commissioner to surrender their lands to the Phosphate Company for inadequate consideration or none, or of the confiscation of land, destruction of food trees, exaction of food taxes in time of famine, forced labour, and flogging by order of the Commissioner, whether particulars of the complaints and claims are forwarded to the Colonial Office; and whether he will have the administration of the island and the relations of the officials with the company made the subject of investigation?

If any such complaint had been made by the natives of Ocean Island, they would have been forwarded to me. I see no reason for instituting any inquiry into the matter.

further asked the Secretary for the Colonies if he will say when did the Colonial Office consider the incongruity of allowing the Pacific Islands Company to make a net profit of 700 per cent. on the guano phosphate taken from Ocean Island while the native owners of the guano phosphate were being flogged for food tax; whether it was with the concurrence of the Colonial Office that company then concealed its excessive profit by increasing its nominal capital without increasing its actual cash investment; and if he can state the total profit the company has made on its entire cash capital of £50,000?

I have already stated in reply to previous questions by the hon. Member that natives of Ocean Island are not flogged for non-payment of taxes. I have no official information as to the capital or profits of the Pacific Phosphate Company, but information can, I understand, be found in the usual books of reference. The Colonial Office is in no way responsible for and has no information as to the manner in which the company raises its capital, but I must not be understood as accepting the accuracy of the allegations conveyed in the hon. Member's question.

asked the Secretary for the Colonies whether any peti- tions to the Grown complaining of the conduct of Sir William Ellison Macartney, as Governor of Tasmania, have been forwarded by him to the Secretary of State for the Colonies pursuant to Royal instructions in such cases; and whether such petitions will be laid upon the Table of the House of Commons?

An Address has been received from the Tasmanian House of Assembly, and it will be laid in due time before Parliament, with other Papers on the subject.

asked the Home Secretary when the Reports of His Majesty's inspectors of coal mines for the past year will be laid upon the Table of this House?

All the Reports have been formally presented to this House and all, except two, have been finally printed and published. The remaining two will be issued next week.

asked the Postmaster-General whether he can establish a public telephone call office at Claverley, near Wolverhampton, in view of its service to the agriculturists in the district?

The establishment of a Call office at Claverley is dependent upon a scheme which is under consideration for opening exchanges at Trysull as well as Claverley. Some additional support is necessary, and efforts are being made to obtain it. I regret that the expense of providing a call office only at Claverley connected with the Wolverhampton exchange system would be much greater than the receipts would justify.

asked the Postmaster-General whether his attention has been called to the delay in installing the telephone service at Blindley Heath, in Surrey; seeing that this was first applied for in 1906 and again on 1st May, 1911, and signed by fourteen people anxious to have the telephone, and in August, 1913, a letter was received from the General Post Office saying that a service would be installed as soon as a suitable place was found, but nothing has so far been done although the local postmaster is quite willing to have the exchange at his office, and it appears to be suitable, is there any reason for this delay, and when is the service likely to be installed?

The delay in connection with the provision of a telephone service at Blindley Heath has been due to a difficulty in finding premises in a sufficiently convenient position for the exchange. The local post office is not situated centrally for serving the prospective subscribers, and negotiations which were undertaken for the installation of the exchange elsewhere have fallen through. Fresh plans have now to be made, but the matter is being expedited as much as possible.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he will explain what precisely is meant by the statement that representations are made by the Board of Trade if the certificate required by the Insurance Companies Act as to the value of the assets is to the effect that assets of that character are actually of the full value at which they appear in the balance sheet; who has certified to the Board that the alleged assets of the National Standard Life Assurance Corporation and of the Law Integrity Insurance Company are actually of the full value at which they appear in the balance sheets; whether the Board is satisfied that such is the case; and, if not, what representations have been made to those companies or to the auditors so certifying?

Note 3 to the form of balance-sheet contained in the Third Schedule to the Assurance Companies Act, 1909, requires a certificate to be appended to the balance-sheet, signed by the same persons as sign the balance-sheet, to the effect that, in their belief, the assets set forth in the balance-sheet are in the aggregate fully of the value stated therein, less any investment reserve fund taken into account. If the assets to which the certificate relates include large items representing amounts spent in establishing the business, representations are made by the Board of Trade to the effect that some explanation or some modification of the form of certificate should be made. Such representations were made to the National Standard Life Assurance Corporation, Limited, with the result that the certificate, which was signed by the vice-chairman, the managing director, two directors, and the secretary, was limited to the assets other than preliminary expenses, purchase of business and establishment and organisation accounts. Representations were also made to the Law Integrity Insurance Company, Limited, with the result that the certificate which was signed by the chairman, the managing director, two directors, and the secretary, was limited to the assets other than establishment account. The Board are not prepared to express an opinion as to he value of the assets appearing in a company's balance-sheet. No representations have been made to the auditors, because they are not required to give any certificate as to the value of the assets.

asked the President of the Board of Agriculture, adverting to the statement of the then Duke of Richmond and Gordon, as responsible Minister introducing as a Bill the Diseases of Animals Act, 1878 (Hansard, Vol. 237, third S., pp. 1496–7), that the intent of the said Bill, of which, in all relevant details, the Act of 1894 is purely a re-enactment, was, as regards Ireland, to deal with Ireland exactly as with other parts of the United Kingdom, its trade to be equally free, subject to extending to Ireland the provisions re infected areas contained in the previous Act of 1869, which did not extend to Ireland, whether he will cause specially close inquiries to be made among the officials and retired officials concerned with the said Acts and search in the Departmental records with a view to ascertaining the exact circumstances under which the first official act of the Board or of the English or Scottish Privy Council discriminating, contrary to the intention of the framers of the Act of 1878, as explained as aforesaid, against animals from Ireland, other than from an infected area, as such, came to me made, whether without special consideration of the question of intra or ultra vires or in consultation on such question with the British and Irish Law officers, or, if not, under what legal guidance; and to state whether there is any English, Scottish, or Irish High Court decision within the knowledge of the Board upholding the power either of the Board or of British local authorities to discriminate against animals from Ireland, other than from an infected area, as such; and, if so, to give the dates and references of such decisions?

With regard to the first part of the question I would refer my hon. Friend to my answer to his question on this subject on the 1st July. I have no reason to think that the inquiries which he suggests would produce any useful results, and even if the information asked for were obtained it would have no bearing upon the question of the validity of the Orders. With regard to the latter part of the question the Board have no record of any such decision.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will obtain through British Consuls-General in Russia, Sweden, Germany, and the United States of America, and place in a collected form in the Library in English, French, or German, the latest reports and statistics on the manufacture, cost, and value of peat fuel in those countries?

addressed a similar question to the President of the Board of Trade.

In reply, I would refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on the 21st May. I can only repeat that I cannot undertake to instruct Consular officers to collect the information desired by the hon. Member, unless the necessity for doing so is confirmed by the Departments of His Majesty's Government immediately concerned.