asked the Prime Minister whether, in considering the question of votes for soldiers and sailors, the Government will frame their proposals on the broad basis that all who have served their country shall be entitled to a vote in the electoral division to which they made their allotment from their pay or in the place in which they normally reside?

A statement on this subject will be made in connection with the proposed Bill.

asked the Secretary to the Admiralty when the labourers employed at the Deptford Victualling Yard and the West India Dock naval store are to receive the increase of 2s. per week in their wages, as granted to the labourers at Woolwich Arsenal, Waltham Abbey, and Pimlico?

The increase of 2s. a week to which my hon. Friend refers was granted by the Army Council to their employés at the Army Establishments named as from 14th December, 1914. An increase of the same amount, of 2s. for labourers, was granted by the Admiralty as a War emergency increase to their employés at the Royal Dockyards and Victualling Yards, including Deptford and West India Docks, from 28th March, 1915.

asked the Secretary to the Admiralty whether he can state the proportion of cases in which the parents' contribution of £50 per annum for midshipmen was waived because of the pecuniary circumstance of the parents, and the proportion of cases in which it had been reduced up to 21st June?

There have been about forty applications for remission of private allowances, owing to the pecuniary circumstances of the parents or guardians of the young officers. Of these twenty-nine have replied to the Admiralty letter, which is sent in all cases, asking for particulars of reduction in income, etc., and, in accordance with the discretionary powers possessed by them, the Board of Admiralty have approved the waiving of the private allowance in twenty-seven cases. In two only have the applications been refused, and in one of those conditionally. No applications for a reduced private allowance have been received.

asked the Under-Secretary for War why James Barry, Mullingar, dependant of Private Patrick Barry, has not yet been given the allowance due to him from September to January last; and, in view of the difficulty of inquiry after Patrick Barry has gone to the front, whether any necessary inquiry will be made now before he leaves England?

No allotment was made by this soldier until 11th January, and he has admitted this to his commanding officer; consequently nothing was due to his father until then.

asked the Under-Secretary for War whether he is aware that, while the insurance companies relieve officers of the New Armies of extra war risks, the special service officers who cross the Channel have to pay these risks and are not relieved and, although their appointments may suddenly terminate, they cannot recover the fees paid; and whether, seeing that these extra fees may amount to 15 to 40 per cent. of their pay, he will take steps to circularise the insurance companies and arrange matters on a satisfactory basis?

I have carefully considered this question, and regret that I do not see my way to adopt the suggestion. The whole subject of officers' life insurance has been carefully considered since the War began.

asked the President of the Board of Trade, now the trade export returns over the five months of this year in tinned plates are increased about 100 per cent. over the same period of last year to Norway, what quantity of the increase in percentage has been sent from Norway to Germany, Denmark, and Holland; and if these plates, when shipped as cans, contained conserves only?

I am aware of the increased exportation of tinned plates to Norway, to which my hon. Friend refers, but the Norwegian trade returns do not include any statistics which would enable me to furnish the information asked for in the latter part of the question. The export of tinplates to Norway will shortly be prohibited by Order in Council.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland if he will state the estimated population of Ireland and the estimated area of land tilled therein seventy years ago and now, respectively; the amount, so far as ascertainable, of public money spent, and the number of soldiers and police employed, carrying out evictions in Ireland; and the total amount of public money spent in promoting emigration from Ireland, and the total number of persons imprisoned in connection with agrarian matters in Ireland during those seventy years?

The population of Ireland estimated to the middle of 1845 was 8,295,061, and to the middle of the present year 4,381,398. The area of land tilled in the country is estimated at 4,099,629 acres in 1847, the earliest year for which figures are available, and at 2,311,662 acres in 1914. The information asked for in the third, fourth, and last parts of the question is not available.

also asked the Chief Secretary to state the area of arable land in Ireland, the area of it in tillage, and the number of people there engaged in agriculture at the latest date for which these figures are available?

In 1914 the area of land in Ireland capable of being tilled is estimated to have been 14,742,766 acres—the area tilled under the system of rotation 5,027,082 acres, and the area actually tilled in the year 2,311,622 acres. The latest estimate of persons actually engaged in agriculture is for the year 1912 and amounts to 1,073,238.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland the average number of years' purchase of rents paid or agreed to be paid by the Congested Districts Board for tenanted lands in Connaught during the past five years?

The average number of years' purchase of rents paid or agreed to be paid by the Congested Districts Board for tenanted lands in Connaught since the passing of the Irish Land Act, 1909, is 19.2 in the case of estates dealt with under the Act of 1903, and 17.8 in the case of those under the Act of 1909.

asked the Postmaster-General (1) whether he is aware that on the formation of the South Midland engineering district, nine third-class clerks, London superintending engineer's offices, were specially selected for service in that district, and were compulsorily transferred from London; whether he will explain the reason of such action in view of the fact that the officers concerned held Civil Service certificates for London appointments only, and were not liable for service in the provinces except for temporary periods with the usual allowances; and (2) whether, in connection with the temporary transfer of nine third-class clerks, London superintending engineer's offices, to the South Midland district, four officers only received subsistence allowances on the grounds that there were only two actual and two prospective vacancies, the remaining officers receiving the bare cost of removal; whether this period was one of exceptional pressure in London owing to the taking over of the National Telephone Company; whether there were at least seventeen vacancies on the London class, according to the Post Office Estimates, and, in addition, twelve officers of the National Telephone Company were awaiting a promised transfer to the London telephone service; and will he explain why it was not practicable, in view of these vacancies, to grant identical treatment to all the officers concerned?

Early in 1913 the formation of a new Engineering District with headquarters at Reading rendered it necessary to transfer clerical staff from London to Reading. Of the ten clerks transferred, six were at the time in excess of the authorised establishment in London owing to a redundancy of staff; and their transfer was, therefore, regarded as permanent. The other four stood against vacancies (existing or anticipated) in London, and were, therefore, regarded as on loan. The complement of the London staff was reduced as a result of the incorporation of part of the London Engineering District in the new District; and the figures given in the Post Office Estimates do not, therefore, represent the state of affairs at the time of the transfer of the staff. No vacancies existed at the time in the London telephone service for the clerks who had a promise of transfer to that Department. Every officer of the Post Office is under a general liability to be transferred if the interests of the service so require. The clerks transferred to Reading were allowed to retain the scales of pay and hours of duty proper enjoyed by them in London.

asked the Postmaster-General whether his attention has been called to the delay in giving effect to the Holt recommendations for surveyors' clerks; and whether he will give early attention to the case of surveyors' clerks and give effect to the Holt recommendations from 2nd February, 1914, as included in the Post Office Estimates for 1914–15 and 1915–16, without further delay, pending the consideration of any aspect of the case which may be affected by the Report of the Royal Commission?

My attention is being given to this case. It is possible that I may be able to take certain action on the Holt recommendations without waiting for the general decision of the Government on the Report of the Royal Commission, but I cannot give any pledge at present.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether the Board has verified or will verify the test of peat densified, by the Zohrab process as the motive power of a train on the Glasgow and South-Western Railway, with a consumption of 30.4 lbs. of peat per mile as compared with 38 lbs. of coal per mile; the test on the North British Railway from Glasgow to Dundee and back, with a consumption of 31.4 lbs. per mile; and the experience of Messrs. John Marshall and Company, Clyde Boiler Works, Motherwell, of the value of peat in the manufacture of steel: and, seeing that prejudice against peat arises from taking experimental samples from inferior bogs, whether the Board will procure samples for future experiments from deep Irish bogs?

I am aware that there have been certain tests as to the efficiency of peat fuel, but the matter is not one in which my Department has any direct concern, and I have nothing to add to the answer given to the hon. Gentleman on this subject yesterday.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that where trade union branches are held upon licensed premises members entitled to receive unemployment benefit paid under Part II. of the National Insurance Act. 1911, are required to attend daily at such licensed premises to sign the book kept there besides attending at the local Labour Exchange as a condition precedent to their obtaining such unemployment benefit where arrangements have been made between the Board and the trade union under Section 105 of the Act; and whether he will take steps to prevent this practice?

The arrangements with associations under Section 105 of the Act contain a stipulation that the Vacant Book shall be in the charge of a respon- sible person during the hours when it may be signed, but subject to this it rests with the association to select the place at which the Vacant Book is kept. The Board of Trade are at all times prepared to allow the book to be kept at a Labour Exchange, and this is done in the majority of cases.

asked the President of the Board of Agriculture, with reference to the annual report of the Commercial Control Branch, whether, in the case of firms which have been successfully prosecuted for fraudulent practices, their names can be given when the cases are referred to in the report, seeing that such publicity is an added deterrent to a repetition of the offence and a protection for the honest trader?

The Board consider that there are grave objections to the publication in the annual reports of their Commercial Control Branch of the names of persons convicted of offences under the Acts to which those reports refer.

asked the Secretary for Foreign Affairs if he will state the area of arable land in Denmark; the area of it in tillage; and the number of the people in that country engaged in agriculture at the latest date for which these figures are available?

The total area under cultivation in Denmark, according to the latest returns (1912), was 6,928,817 acres, of which 6,126,341 acres were arable, the remainder being described as meadow and permanent grass. If the acreage under clovers, grasses, and lucerne be deducted, the area under tillage, in the sense presumably intended by the hon. Member, is 4,352,001 acres. According to the Census of 1911 the number of persons engaged in agriculture was 487,260, exclusive of children and dependants, while the total of the agricultural class was 935,292.