asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether a holder of £1,500 Consols can, when applying for £2,000 of War Loan, pay £l,000 in cash and then hand in the £1,500 Consols as the equivalent of the other £1,000 of War Loan; and, if so, why does the Bank of England, in the memorandum relating to conversion, say that it requires £78 of Consols to obtain £50 of War Stock, in view of the official announcement that it would only require £75 of Consols to obtain £50 of War Stock?

In order to obtain the option to convert £1,500 Consols an original subscription for £2,000 4½ per cent. War Loan must be made and fully paid up. In regard to the second part of the question, the hon. Member is, I think, confusing Consols and 2½ per cent. Annuities, which are separate stocks.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War, in view of the fact that the medical branch is the only executive branch of the Territorial Force which has a regulation preventing promotion until after three years' service, whether the War Office can see their way to alter the rule so as to induce more medical men to join and as an act of justice to those who have already joined?

This question is already under consideration.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War if he is aware that the institution of the new rank, warrant officer Class II., has caused dissatisfaction amongst non-commissioned officers of Class 16, who gain nothing by their promotion, whilst the sergeant-majors coming up from the class below get an increase of 3d. a day to their pension besides the higher allowances of their new class, and also amongst the noncommissioned officers of Class 17, who have not been granted the new rank, although they are equal in rank to the sergeant-majors promoted, and in many cases senior to them; and if the Army Council will consider the suggestion that non-commissioned officers of Class 16 should be promoted to first-class warrant rank and, the second-class warrant rank be extended to the whole of the non-commissioned officers in Class 17?

The object of the institution of the new class of warrant officer was to raise the status of the noncommissioned officer (namely, the squadron, battery or company sergeant-major) who, under the commissioned officer, is immediately responsible for the training and military efficiency of the squadron, battery or company, and I am afraid that it is impossible to extend the promotion to all the noncommissioned officers who were originally of equivalent rank without nullifying the whole effect of the change. It should be remembered that these non-commissioned officers who were not selected are actually in no worse position than they were before, and that their opportunities of advancement to the rank of warrant officer Class I. are in no way diminished.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War if he is aware that the special constabulary of the Metropolis contains a very large proportion of single men of military age; that in one squad numbering seventeen there are fourteen men of military age, seven married and seven unmarried; and if he will take steps to see that all physically fit men of military age are discharged from this force and men over forty substituted, of whom there are plenty willing to undertake the duties?

The bulk of the special constables were enrolled immediately after the outbreak of war. Since then the age limit for military service has been twice raised. But directions were given as far back as September to commanders not to enrol men of military age fit for service, and it is believed that this instruction has been carried out. Moreover, since their enrolment over 5,000 special constables have joined the Army, and from week to week others are enlisting. With regard to the particular squad to which the second paragraph of the question is understood to refer, I find on inquiry that half of them have been rejected as medically unfit and that most of the others are employed in Government or municipal service from which they cannot be spared.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware that the Board of Customs and Excise are compulsorily superannuating all officers of Customs and Excise at the age of sixty-one; whether these officers are asked to volunteer for service in the same capacity on signing an agreement not to claim superannuation on the reserve service so rendered; whether, when these officers entered the Civil Service, the custom of both Excise and Customs Departments was to allow efficient officers in both Departments to serve up to at least the age of sixty-five; whether periodical examinations are being held by the Civil Service Commissioners to fill the vacancies compulsorily created; and whether he can name any other civil Department of the State recruited by open competition where the working staff is compelled to superannuate at the age of sixty-one?

I am aware of the facts alluded to by the hon. and learned Member. It has for many years been a recognised rule of the service that a Civil servant might be called upon to retire at the discretion of the head of his Department at any time after reaching the age of sixty, and this rule was embodied in the Orders in Council of 1890 and 1898. After careful consideration of the nature of the duties which fall to be performed by Customs and Excise officers, the age for retirement in this class was fixed at sixty-one in 1911 on the recommendation of the Customs and Excise Amalgamation Committee. Some time before the outbreak of War, in order to provide a reserve of officers available for re-employment in the event of an emergency, a register had been prepared of retired officers who were prepared to volunteer for re-employment on certain fixed terms as to pay and allowances. On the outbreak of War all the officers whose names were on the register were called up for service on the terms agreed. The case of officers who fell due for retirement at the age of sixty-one after the outbreak of War was carefully considered, and it was felt that it would be advisable, both in the interests of administration and of the great majority of the staff, that they should retire in the ordinary course and be re-employed on the conditions laid down for the general scheme. Examinations for recruiting the Customs and Excise have been temporarily suspended.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury what precautions have been or are being taken, when licences to export are issued, to ensure that malt exported to neutral countries does not reach enemy countries?

In the majority of cases the applications for licences are supported by the official representatives of the countries of destination who furnish satisfactory guarantees, and guarantees from buyers are also obtained. In the case of Switzerland the purchases have been to a large extent made in the name of the Swiss Government, and the distribution has been subject to their control. Malt sent to Holland is consigned to the Netherlands Oversea Trust. The export of malt from Holland, Switzerland, Denmark, and Sweden is definitely prohibited.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland the amount of money received by each district council in Ireland at land purchase rate of interest for the purposes of the Labourers (Ireland) Acts, and the names of any councils which have received none at that rate?

The hon. Member will find in the annual report of the Local Government Board for the year ended the 31st March, 1914 (Appendix E. IV. No. 4, Table C, column 7) a statement of the amount of loans sanctioned to that date on land purchase terms for the purposes of the Labourers Acts in each rural district in Ireland. Of the total amount there shown to have been sanctioned, namely, £4,807,248, the amount actually issued to that date was £4,114,198. Corresponding tables, bringing the figures down to the 31st March last, will be included in the annual reports of the Irish Land Commission and the Local Government Board for 1914–15, which will be presented to Parliament in due course. All the rural district councils in Ireland have obtained loans, but the preparation of a statement of the amounts issued, as distinct from sanctioned, to each of them would involve an expenditure of time and labour hardly commensurate with the value of the information.

asked the Home Secretary if his attention has been directed to the fact that, at the Lambeth Police Court, Miss Eileen Winter, a cook, although a first offender and although in her former situations she had borne a good character as to honesty, was sent to prison for a month, after being seventeen days in custody, for stealing some of her mistress's clothes, in spite of her declaration on oath that while she had improperly worn the things she had not the slightest intention of stealing them; and if he will inquire into the case?

I have inquired into the facts of the case, and regret that I find no sufficient reason for recommending any reduction of the sentence.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he will state the total tonnage and value of charcoal iron imported from Sweden in each of the four last years and the total for that period; whether, having regard to the abundance of British ore, the necessity for this expenditure is due to any cause but the failure to use a pure charcoal fuel instead of coal or coke; whether he is aware that in converting a ton of peat densified by the Zohrab process into 8 cwt. of charcoal a much larger amount of sulphate of ammonia is obtained than from a ton of coal, and also a much larger amount of gas for lighting, heating, or power purposes; whether he is aware that the plant required for this is less expensive than that for coal, and that both densified peat and peat charcoal are smokeless; and, having regard to the needless outlay for charcoal iron and to the value of a substitute for coal as a precaution against strikes, whether the Board will give attention to the development of peat bogs and the utilisation of bog products?

Practically the whole output of iron in Sweden consists of charcoal iron. The following statements show the quantity and value of (a) pig iron; (b) wrought iron bars, angles, rods and sections; and (c) steel in ingots, blooms, billets and slabs, imported into the United Kingdom from Sweden in each of the years 1911–14:—