asked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether any figures as to the number of men who have joined the Army from Galway since the outbreak of War were officially supplied to the judge who charged the Grand Jury at the Galway Assizes; and, if not, whether he will give the correct figures or the nearest approximation to them?

My right hon. Friend is not aware that any figures were officially supplied. As the hon. Member may be aware, it has been considered undesirable to make public recruiting statistics.

Will that answer be conveyed to the learned judge who thought it necessary to make a political speech to the Grand Jury and to offend the whole of the people of Galway by misstating figures?

Charges of that sort against judges should not be made. If the hon. Member wishes to make any charge against a judge he should put a Motion down in the ordinary course.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland, whether the Lord Chancellor's secretary has now intimated that William Murphy and J. L. O'Brien, of Mitchelstown, have been appointed to the commission of the peace for county Cork; if so, will he say upon whose recomendation this was done; are these persons the secretary and president of the local Hibernians; is he aware that Mr. O'Brien is the holder of two licences and was twice convicted for breaches of the Licensing Acts; was the Lord Lieutenant of county Cork made aware of these convictions when he agreed to the appointment; and whether, seeing that there are sixteen magistrates already on the Mitchelstown bench, he will say what object was sought to be secured by these appointments and how many members of this order has the Lord Chancellor, against the wishes of the representatives of Cork constituencies, appointed in that county since the Coalition Government was formed?

The answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. The Lord Chancellor informs me that it is. not the practice to state upon whose recommendations appointments to the commission of the peace are made, and that he has no information in regard to the third, fourth and fifth parts of the question. He adds that there are not sixteen magistrates on the Mitchelstown bench, where the average attendance is five or six, and that since the formation of the Coalition Government he has not considered any applications for appointments to the commission in county Cork.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he is aware that the Labour Exchanges have no system of floating staff for holiday and sick relief work, such as obtains in the Post Office, and that its absence results in overtime; whether, inasmuch as junior female clerks in Labour Exchanges work overtime without payment, he will state why it is more difficult to arrange for payment of overtime to these clerks than to clerks in, say, branch post offices; and whether he will approach the Treasury with a view to the institution of a floating staff, the payment for all overtime as in the case of other junior civil servants, and to the increase in the staff of those exchanges which are overworked?

A regular floating staff is provided for the holiday relief of women clerks at the Labour Exchanges, and there is a surplus margin of staff which provides for the holiday relief of the men clerks during the summer months. Sick relief usually takes the form of the temporary transfer of an Officer from another Exchange or duty, but where such transfer is not possible, payment for overtime is authorised, if necessary. I am not aware of the precise conditions under which payment for overtime is made in offices under other Departments, but so far as Labour Exchanges are concerned I am afraid it is not practicable to go beyond the system described in my previous replies. I am not prepared at the present time to approach the Treasury with proposals in this connection involving increased expenditure.