asked the Prime Minister whether, in considering the Government scheme for compensation for damage by enemy aircraft, he will bear in mind the case of voluntary hospitals whose income is precarious, and in some of which free accommodation and treatment for wounded soldiers has been provided?

I will take care to see that the point mentioned by the right hon. Gentleman is not overlooked.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether any settlement has yet taken place in regard to the cases investigated by Lord Parmoor's Committee of damage done by bombardment and aircraft; and, if so, whether the full amount or only a proportion of the assessed damages has been agreed to be paid by the State?

Payments are now being made of the amounts recommended by Lord Parmoor's Committee less the amounts, if any, received on account of insurance or from payments under the Workmen's Compensation Act.

asked the Prime Minister if he will advise the payment to all Government and municipal and other workmen who were at work on the King's birthday all extra payments which would have been paid to them had they worked on that day if it had been officially declared a King's birthday?

I understand that War Office and Admiralty workmen have had the usual King's birthday privileges this year. I do not think that any action on my part is called for.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury whether the messengers employed in various public offices have received any temporary increase in wages or war bonus owing to the extra cost of living; and, if not, will he state whether some consideration can be given at the present time?

The answer to the first part of the question is in the negative; and as regards the second part, I fear that I cannot at present add anything to the answer given by my predecessor to the hon. Member for Barrow-in-Furness on the 18th ultimo.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether the War Office have decided that, in the case of Territorial units on active service, no more drafts are to be sent to them from their respective reserve units at home but that when their numbers, in the case of Infantry battalions, are reduced below 400, they will be attached to other Territorial units and composite battalions formed; and, seeing that that course will be discouraging to the efficiency of and the recruiting for Territorial Forces and will be a virtual breach of faith with individual officers and men who compose them, whether he will take into further consideration the step proposed?

It is not the case that no more drafts will be sent; but when battalions are very much reduced in numbers it may be necessary to associate them temporarily, for convenience of command and administration, with another battalion. Such attachment will cease as soon as sufficient reinforcements are available.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether he will state the minimum age for the Royal Flying Corps; and whether he will consider the advisability of introducing the apprentice system on probation at an age corresponding to naval cadets in the Navy, adding those who make most progress to the available pilots?

If the question alludes to pilots, all available instructors and instructional aeroplanes are employed in training pilots of full age, and nothing would be gained by taking apprentices. If the question alludes to mechanics, a proportion of boys aged fourteen are already enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps, and are eligible for training as pilots when they are fully trained as mechanics.

asked the Financial Secretary to the War Office whether his attention had been drawn to the fact that forty-seven soldiers in the 8th Manchester Regiment who served in the Volunteer Force for many years are denied the proficiency pay of 3d. a day; and whether he will reconsider the decision under which their service in the Volunteer Force is regarded as not qualifying for proficiency pay?

There is nothing exceptional in this case. Under existing regulations service in the Volunteers does not qualify for proficiency pay. The question whether it should be allowed to do so is being considered afresh, but the hon. Member must not take this as holding out any great hope of a change.

asked the Financial Secretary to the War Office what is the present scale of pay to farriers in the Army; and whether there is any difference in the rate paid to those recently enlisted as compared with those who were in the Army previous to the War or who enlisted soon after the outbreak of War?

Farrier privates are normally enlisted at the rates of pay laid down in the Pay Warrant, varying from 1s. 8d. to 2s. 2d. per diem according to the Arm of the Service. In the period immediately succeeding mobilisation a certain number of skilled men were accepted at a special rate of 6s. per diem. Later it again became necessary to resort to special rates and selected men are now being enlisted at 5s. per diem.

asked the President of the Board of Education whether a communication was sent on 9th February to the Dover Education Committee stating that the provision of a new council school, in place of Christ Church school, was a matter of such urgency that it could not be postponed on account of the War; whether he has now consented to the postponement, whilst strongly urging the local authority to take all preliminary steps by selecting and securing a site and preparing and submitting plans, so that the work may proceed as soon as circumstances permit; whether the local authority has decided to take none of these steps at present; and what steps do the Board propose to take in these circumstances?

The facts are as stated in the first and second questions, though the date given should be the 15th January. With regard to the third question, the Board are not aware that the Authority have taken any such decision; and the fourth question, therefore, does not at present arise.

asked the Home Secretary whether he is aware that letters of naturalisation recently granted to German subjects resident in the county of Kent is creating some anxiety; and will he, to allay this feeling, state the reasons why such letters were granted in April and May last to Julia Apelt, of independent means, Minster, Sheerness; Ignaz Hermann, watchmaker, Tunbridge Wells; Sophia Mary Kluelas, apartment house keeper, Ramsgate; Katherine Anne Kluver, or Mitchell, apartment house keeper, Ramsgate; Caroline W. Matthaei, private governess, Bromley; Oskar E. R. Thiebwasser, tailor, Bexley Heath; and Karaser, of independent means, Bromley?

I have heard of no anxiety on this subject in the county of Kent. If any exists, it arises entirely from misapprehension of the facts. Of the five women named in the question (one of whom lives in Aberdeen, not in Ramsgate) four are widows, born in the United Kingdom, of British parents, who have lived all, or almost all, their lives in the United Kingdom, and have in some cases been widows for a long time. One of them has a son serving in the Navy. The fifth is a single woman who has been in the United Kingdom since the age of six. She is not of German extraction, but was born in Germany of Italian parentage, and probably had no nationality previous to her naturalisation here. Of the two men, one, aged seventy-nine, has been sixty-four years in the United Kingdom, his father was naturalised in 1850, and he himself, though technically an alien, had always been considered to be a British subject. The other is aged fifty, has been thirty years in the United Kingdom, has two sons serving in the Army, and is thoroughly loyal.

asked the Postmaster-General whether his attention has been called to the dissatisfaction caused by the high charges made for the transmission of parcels to soldiers at the front; and whether he can see his way to materially reduce these rates?

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply which I gave to the Noble Lord the Member for Kensington (South Division) on the 9th instant and the answer the Assistant Postmaster-General gave to the hon. Member for Melton on the 21st instant.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that the profits of the Shell Transport Company have for the last year before the War admitted of a dividend the same as that just declared; whether he can state if the company's prices in respect of the trade have continued upon a peace basis both as regards the Government and the public; and whether, in view of these facts, he will explain why war profits are alleged in regard to this company?

I have no knowledge of the profits of the Shell Transport Company, except from the report of the company and the speech of the chairman published in the daily Press, nor can I add to the information possessed by the hon. Baronet as to whether the company's prices have continued upon a peace basis.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give the amount of the Return for the year 1914–15 of Increment Value Duty, Reversion Duty, and Undeveloped Land Duty, respectively, and state the sum in such Return which represents arrears of Undeveloped Land Duty?

The net receipt of duty in the year 1914–15 was as follows:—

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether any steps have been taken to ascertain the amount of deposits unclaimed for a period of thirty years and upwards in the various banks of the United Kingdom and of the dividends thereon; whether an approximation of this sum can be given to the public; and whether the Government has considered the advisability of legislation for the utilising of the vast wealth thus unclaimed for public purposes, due regard being had to the preservation of the rights of the owners, if any, to payment?

The question raised has been frequently considered by successive Chancellors of the Exchequer, and the conclusion reached has uniformly been that steps could not usefully be taken in the direction suggested. While no complete or accurate estimate is available, all inquiries which have been made have indicated very clearly that the popular idea of the amounts involved is very much exaggerated.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury under what circumstances licences have been granted to export malt during the past nine months ending 31st May in quantities amounting to nearly two and a half times the average annual quantity during the five years preceding the War?

The export of malt was not prohibited till the 3rd February last, and licences for export were not required before that date. The abnormal demand for export is accounted for by the fact that certain countries, especially Italy, Switzerland and Holland, were largely cut off from their usual sources of supply.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury to what countries malt has been exported since 1st January and the quantities to each country, respectively; and if he can give in like manner, but separately, the exports of malt during the month of May?

A statement of the quantities of "Corn: Malt" the produce of the United Kingdom, exported from the United Kingdom to each country of destination during the months January-May, 1915 (inclusive), and May, 1915:—

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to the fact that whereas 40 certificates were in 1914 issued in the Metropolitan Police district under Section 95 of the Children Act, 1908, only 10 such certificates were during that period issued, so far as is known, in the whole of Scotland; and whether, in view of the large number issued in the Metropolitan Police district, he will communicate with the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police with respect to the issue of further instructions to officers in charge of police stations?

The difference in the figures for Greater London and for Scotland can be accounted for by the relative populations, and the local circumstances of the two areas. The certificates given in the Metropolitan Police district represent less than 1 per cent. of the total number of children and young persons apprehended. In most cases the certificate was given on the ground that it was impracticable owing to the late hour at which the charge was made to take the child to a place of detention. In almost every case in which a certificate was given the child was detained in a matron's charge or in some suitable room, and not in a cell. I am satisfied that the police exercise their duties under Section 95 with great care and discretion, and further instructions do not appear to be called for.

asked the Home Secretary whether he will cause a separate annual report to be issued, as early in each year as may be, by the Children Department of the Home Office with respect to all matters under the supervision of that Department?

During the present time of pressure attention must be concentrated on work that is essential, and it is impossible to undertake the issue of new reports. My hon. Friend will find that part of the ground is covered by the annual report of the Chief Inspector of Reformatory and Industrial Schools and by the judicial statistics; but in view of the reduced staff and increased work of the Home Office and the pressure on the police and other local authorities it has been necessary somewhat to curtail these reports at the present time.

asked the President of the Local Government Board whether he is aware that the first case with which the recent outbreak of small-pox was started at Oldham, on the 25th February, 1915, was that of a vaccinated man; that the whole of the attacks were equally mild, the vaccinated and unvaccinated patients all suffering from the discrete type of the disease; that none of the cases terminated fatally, but that the patients were discharged from hospital after comparatively short periods of detention; whether the cause of the outbreak has been traced; and, if the source of the trouble was some insanitary condition, of water supply, drainage, or otherwise, whether the same has been put right?

Though the first recognised case of small-pox in the recent outbreak at Oldham was admitted to the hospital on 25th February, it would appear that the first case of the disease, from which all the others can be traced, was in an unvaccinated girl, whose illness was not originally recognised as small-pox. All the cases had mild attacks of the discrete type and none were fatal, and most of them were in the hospital for comparatively short periods. The cause of the outbreak has not been definitely traced, but there is nothing to show that it was connected with any insanitary condition.