asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if the Government will give to naval and military officers and other members of the community who draw pensions from the British or. Indian Governments the option of receiving their payments in scrip of the War Loan?

I am afraid I cannot adopt this suggestion. I may add that under the existing arrangements pensioners have ample facilities for investing.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he can see his way to making such arrangements as will allow of the naval pensioners and Fleet Reserve men now engaged in boom-defence work at Portland having an occasional rest on Sunday?

These men are now on exactly the same footing as active service ratings, and get active service rates of pay. Sundays are, of course, in respect of necessary work, the same as any other day in war time, and the grant of leave must entirely be governed by the necessities of war. I can give no assurance on the subject beyond saying that the possibility of granting leave will be considered by the proper authorities when those necessities admit.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War why the allowance assigned to his mother by L. C. R. Jones, No. 11,066, Royal Irish Fusiliers, has not been paid to Mrs. Henry Jones, Kilduff, Belturbet; what is now being paid to this soldier; and how much is withheld to pay this allowance?

This case is at present under investigation, and the hon. Member will be informed of the result in due course.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War if he will say why dependant allowances hvae not been paid to Hugh Reilly, Shanna, Ballinagh, in respect of the requests and allowances made by his two sons, Private Patrick Reilly, No. 4,248, and Private Bernard Reilly, No. 3,237, Expeditionary Force, France, and both in the 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers; and whether, seeing that the father of these two soldiers is a poor labouring man with a wife and two small children and entitled to consideration, the matter will be at once investigated and all arrears due paid without delay?

I will have inquiry made into this case, and let the hon. Member know the result in due course.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War if he is aware that the manager of the Heston and Isleworth Electricity Works, in response to an application for war badges for certain skilled employés on his staff, made on 4th June, 1915, and containing names of firms engaged on Government work to which power was being supplied by his works, was informed that the issue of official badges could not be authorised on the ground that no power was being supplied to any factory manufacturing munitions of war; that his application was made as the result of a communication from the War Office to the secretary of the Associated Municipal Electrical Engineers (Greater London), of which association he is a member, in which it was stated that a system had been instituted by which badges for skilled employés of suitable age and willing to enlist if called upon to do so could be obtained on application to the War Office; and that the application of this system was suggested by the military authorities to the Associated Municipal Electrical Engineers (Greater London) as a means of retaining their skilled employés; is he aware that the attitude of the War Office towards the application for badges does not seem to accord with the official statement to the effect that several electrical companies had been offered such badges for issue to men of recruitable age who would be willing to enlist in the event of an emergency; will he say why there is this inequality of treatment in regard to the issue of badges of skilled employés of electrical services; and, if it represents a change of attitude, will he consider the advisability of its modification, with a view to granting badges to the skilled employés of the Heston and Isleworth Electricity Works, and to the employés of other companies similarly situated?

There has as yet been no change in the procedure as regards the issue of badges to employés at electric power stations. The position is as stated in the first part of the hon. Member's question, but the power stations must be supplying power for the manufacture of munitions.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland if he will ascertain and state the extent to which the teaching and study of German and of Irish, respectively, are subsidised out of public money in each of the universities of Ireland, in each of their constituent colleges, and under the Intermediate Education Board?

The National University of Ireland employs one extern examiner in German and one in Irish, each receiving remuneration of £80 per annum. In addition, the University provides studentships of £200 per annum, tenable for two years, and usually offered for competition every second year, into which German and Irish enter as subjects. Of the constituent colleges, University College, Cork, includes in its staff a professor of Irish language and literature at a salary of £450 a year, a lecturer in modern Irish at a salary of £150 a year, and a professor of German at a salary of £150 a year. The Waterford County Council offers annually a scholarship in Irish tenable only in that college, while the Cork County Council offers two studentships annually, provided suitable candidates present themselves, in subjects among which "Irish Language, Literature, and History" is included. The staff of University College, Dublin, includes one professor and one lecturer in modern Irish at annual salaries of £600 and £300 respectively; one professor in early and mediaeval Irish at £600 a year; one professor of German at £300 a year with assistants at salaries amounting to £120 a year. There are no prizes or scholarships limited exclusively to Irish or German, but, in competing for scholarships in modern languages, students must present three languages from a list of subjects which include Irish and German. At the University College, Galway, a professor of Irish language, philology, and literature, is paid £350 a year with a proportionate sum of the amount of class fees paid by students in Irish. A lecturer in Modern Irish language receives £150 a year, with £50 additional so long as the additional income of the college shall continue, and a proportionate sum from class fees. The professor in modern languages receives £350 per annum and a sum equivalent to the amount of his class fees paid by students. He has two assistants in modern languages who receive £75 each. Irish is a subject for entrance and third-year scholarships and for the university examinations, on the result of which second-year scholarships are awarded. There is a postgraduate scholarship in Irish, value £40, tenable for one year, and founded by the Galway County Council, and two special prizes in Irish value £7 10s. each are awarded annually. There are no special scholarships or prizes in German, but modern languages are subjects for entrance and for undergraduate scholarships and for postgraduate scholarships. At the Queen's University of Belfast the salary of the professor of German is £500 per annum, and the salary of the lecturer in Irish is £250. Irish and German are exactly on the same footing in the list of optional subjects that may be taken for foundation scholarships and for class prizes. Each department gets the same annual grant of £5 for a class laboratory. The only direct payments made by the Board of Intermediate Education in respect of individual languages are special prizes for proficiency in composition. In 1914, prizes to the value of £82 were thus awarded for German, and to the value of £74 for Irish.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many certificates were, in 1914, issued under Section 95 of the Children Act, 1908, in the City of London, Manchester, Leeds, Hull, Brighton, Birmingham, Nottingham, Plymouth, Bristol, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Leicester, and Southampton, respectively?

One certicate was given at Manchester in 1914, and none at the at the other places mentioned.

asked the Home Secretary whether he is aware that in 1914 nearly 900 boys and girls under nineteen years of age were on conviction received into Scottish prisons, exclusive of Borstal institutions; and whether he is able to state, apart from making Returns or tabulating statistics, whether the prison population under nineteen years in England and Wales is approximately the same percentage of the population as in Scotland, or whether special circumstances and conditions exist the operation of which may be taken to reduce or increase the ratio in England and Wales?

During the year ending 31st March, 1915, there were 4,088 offenders between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one received on conviction into-prisons in England and Wales (exclusive of committals to Borstal institutions). This number has been a decreasing one for many years, having fallen from 16,188 in 1902–3 to the figure named above in 1914–15, or 75 per cent. in twelve years. The figure gives a ratio of 11.1 such committals per 100,000 of population, which compares very favourably with the figure quoted for Scotland, if the latter excludes offenders of twenty and twenty-one. The Prison Commissioners are of opinion, as stated in their reports, that the institution of Borstal committees for the purpose of the "Modified" Borstal Scheme (i.e., for all prisoners of sixteen to twenty-one sentenced to imprisonment) has been a very effective agency in reducing the-number of young offenders committed to prison.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether, in order to help the poorer classes to ascertain whether fair prices are being charged by retail tradesmen, he will, after consultation with the several associations representing retailers of meat, bread, fish, groceries, and coal, cause to be published each week or oftener if need be, in public places, a list of fair prices to be charged for such articles?

My right hon. Friend will see what can be done to give the public guidance as to fair prices for some of the articles named in the question.