asked the Financial Secretary to the War Office whether an undertaking was given to refund to officers the value of kit lost during the retirement from Mons; and whether he is aware that in some cases such a refund has not been granted?

Such cases are dealt with on the spot by general officers commanding under Section 19 of the Allowance Regulations I have no reason to suppose that any compensation properly due has been refused.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury if he will state who are the persons who have been authorised to export malt to Norway, Sweden, Holland, Switzerland, Italy, and Greece, under licence, since 1st January, 1915?

The prohibition of the export of malt was first imposed by the Proclamation dated the 3rd February, 1915, and the statistical records of the War Trade Department as to licences granted were first kept on the 1st March, 1915. It is improbable that any licences for the export of malt were granted before the latter date.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that in consequence of the reduction in the staffs of county councils and of printers owing to the enlistment of their men in His Majesty's Forces, and of the scarcity of paper, there will be difficulty in completing the Parliamentary and Local Government Registers by the 31st December, 1915; and whether he will consider the desirability of extending the time for the completion of such registers for 1916 to the 31st January, 1916, and of continuing the register for 1915 in force until that date?

My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary has asked me to reply to this question. The point has not previously been brought to the notice of the Local Government Board. If the hon. Member has any information on the subject, I shall be happy to consider it.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether the Board exempts from the necessity of registration as a newspaper a weekly recruiting publication purporting to be a newspaper; and, if not, will he account for the existence and passage through the post during the last nine months of such a publication, unregistered, printed by the "Freeman's Journal," Dublin, over an incorrect imprint?

The Board of Trade have no jurisdiction with regard to the registration of newspapers. If the hon. Member refers to the registration of proprietors of newspapers under the Newspaper Libel and Registration Act, 1881, I would remind him that the provisions as to the registration of newspaper proprietors contained in the Act do not apply to the case of any newspaper which belongs to a company incorporated under the Companies Act.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland how many persons the Congested Districts Board now employs in connection with the fishing and preservation of the River Ownea and estuary and their aggregate yearly wages; where those persons were on the 22nd June last, when Mr. Micks himself found it necessary to pursue poachers who had taken a quantity of fish, the property of tenants and the Board; whether the Board has got the testimony of an independent witness that one of the principal poachers is a person still in the Board's employment; whether the Board has deprived the tenants claiming the fishing rights of the turf bogs they have enjoyed for more than twenty years, and transferred those bogs to the Board's agents; whether the Board still insists upon signature by the tenants of a clause in the purchase agreements surrendering the rights they have hitherto enjoyed; whether the Board will consent to send an impartial representative to the district to confer with the tenants as to the purchase by them of the fishing and game rights and as to the future economical management of the fishery; and whether the Board is prepared to vest in the tenants whose holdings abut on the River Ownea and estuary below Glenties Bridge all the fishing and game rights hitherto enjoyed by them jointly with the Marquess of Conyngham on their signing agreements to repay the full amount advanced by the Board to the Marquess for those rights, with interest, in the usual manner?

One manager and thirteen watchers are employed by the Congested Districts Board in connection with the fishing and preservation of the Ownea river and estuary at yearly wages totalling £444, and during the netting season temporary employment in the estuary is found for twelve boatmen at a cost of £75. Mr. Mick's visit, of which the circumstances are not correctly represented by the hon. Member, was for the purpose of making arrangements for the discharge of the duties of the manager who was ill. On that occasion Mr. Micks saw the watcher at the part of the river which he visited. Letters have been received from one of the objecting tenants making allegations against one of the persons in the Board's employment. The Board have not deprived any tenant of a right to cut turf, but within their rights as landlords they have pointed out places where turf is to be cut for fuel.With regard to the last three parts of the question I would refer the hon. Member to my previous replies of the 10th and 29th ultimo which set out the attitude of the Board and their willingness to discuss any reasonable proposal on the part of the riparian tenants for the transfer of the fishery to them.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he is aware that in some parts of Ireland records of births are not available and, if so, that it is impossible for the Local Government Board to allow claims in the absence of proof; of what practical use are pensions committees if their local knowledge is not to be utilised, as, if proof is produced, there seems no reason for the existence of pensions committees; whether he will take steps to alter the procedure, so that where proof is not available pensions committees' local knowledge may be given effect to or, otherwise, it he will take steps to have such committees abolished altogether seeing that whilst they give their services voluntarily their decisions may be overruled by the paid officials of the Local Government Board?

The Local Government Board are aware that baptismal certificates and other records of birth are not available in some parts of Ireland. It is, however, quite usual for the Board to allow claims in the absence of these certificates, and they may accept, and do accept, any satisfactory evidence submitted by the claimants or other persons on their behalf. The use of the pensions committees is indicated by the fact that the bulk of the pensions in Ireland have been awarded by them and a large number of claims have been disallowed by them without any appeal to the Local Government Board. The fact that there is an appeal against the pensions committees' decisions, and that such appeals are sometimes upheld, is not an argument for their abolition. The proposal made by the hon. Member to abolish the appeal against the decisions of the committees would require legislation and would remove the chief safeguard upon which the Imperial Exchequer has to depend. The local knowledge of a pension committee as to the actual age of a claimant must vary; greatly and very often is quite insufficient to act upon.

asked the Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture (Ireland) if he has received a resolution from the members of the Cavan and Longford branch of the Irish Creamery Managers' Association protesting against the Department of Agriculture in any way attempting to reduce the small Grant given towards fostering the Irish creamery butter industry; is he aware that this would most adversely affect a great food-producing industry; and will he in the circumstances have this whole matter care-fully considered with a view to increasing this particular Grant?

The Department have received a copy of the resolution in question. Owing to the shrinkage of their funds in consequence of the War, the Department have not at their disposal sufficient Grants to cover their schemes for the current year. They have accordingly been obliged to reduce the amount allocated from their Endowment Fund to various schemes, including that for improving the butter industry. This course was decided upon with the concurrence of the Agricultural Board. In the circumstances the Department regret that they are not at present in a position to promise any increase