asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if the Excess Profits Tax is intended to apply in the case of a gold mining company which, after making substantial profits for many years, has been working in low grade ore since 1911, and in 1915 passed into a higher grade with largely increased profits, and which, if included for Excess Profits Tax over the datum line, will be subject to the following taxes in the £: British Income Tax 3s. 6d., British Excess Profits Tax 10s., proposed Australian War Income Tax 5s., proposed French taxes, the shares being quoted on the Paris Bourse, 3s., a total of £1 1s. 6d. in the £, making it more profitable to leave the ore in the mine?

The hon. Member has now supplied me with more precise details of the case to which I understand him to refer. I cannot be taken as admitting that the combined taxes would stand in the suggested relation to the income of the company. As regards the Excess Profits Tax, with which the hon. Member is primarily concerned, I may say that the special tribunal will be competent to deal with any question of increasing the rate for the percentage standard as regards any trade or industry for which, as a class, 6 per cent, is prima facie inadequate.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he can state the number of the War Loan subscription clubs which have been established, respectively, by employers and by other purchasers of War Loan Stock for resale to members of the clubs; whether the facilities afforded by the Treasury for the formation of such clubs expired on the 31st August last; and whether he will consider the desirability of granting similar facilities in conection with any new loan, in order that the smallest investor may have the opportunity of taking part in it?

There have been about 1,700 inscriptions in the Post Office Register of War Stock purchased for subsequent subdivision. Nearly all of these represent advances, made by employers on behalf of their workpeople, and it is believed that most of the War Loan clubs referred to in the question are purchasing scrip vouchers and scrip certificates, which will not come up for registration before December. This method is still in force, and the arrangement which come to an end on 31st August was merely that of direct subscription. The answer to the last part of the question is in the affirmative.

asked the Financial Secretary to the War Office whether he can now say whether the War Office can now give proficiency pay to ex-Volunteers who join the supernumerary companies in the same way as ex-Regulars now receive this pay; and whether he is aware there, is much feeling between the men from the ex-Volunteers and those from the Regulars on this question?

I regret I am unable to depart from the decision already announced.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture if he will state the area of common land enclosed and appropriated by private persons in each county in England in the nineteenth century, with the conditions to which the acquisition was subject; and whether those conditions have been or are being fulfilled?

All the available information as to the area of common land enclosed will be found in the Return presented to Parliament, No, 399 of 1914, of which I am sending the hon. Member a copy The documents showing the conditions in each case of enclosure prior to the General Enclosure Act of 1845 are, with comparatively few exceptions, not in the Board's custody. An examination of all those in the Board's charge would involve a very large amount of labour which, with the present depleted staff, it would be impossible to undertake.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture what was the quantity of, and what was the price paid for, Indian wheat purchased during the current year by the Government and at what time or times was such wheat delivered in Great Britain, and whether the whole of it has yet been placed on the market?

A report with regard to the purchase and sale of Indian wheat during the past season is being prepared, and the particulars asked for will be contained in it. Practically the whole of what has been purchased during the past season has been landed and sold.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will cause representations to be made to the German Government to the effect that, if they will not give prisoners of war, whether interned in camps or fortresses, facilities for communicating with their relatives and friends by letter or postcard, the like privileges accorded to German prisoners in this country will be curtailed; and if the Government have taken any steps, to set up a Department whose business it would be to continue inquiry and search for missing officers and men after they were so reported by the War Office?

I understand that the regulations in force in Germany provide for facilities for communication with relatives and friends being given to the prisoners of war, and I am not sure, as at present advised, that there are grounds for making a communication in the sense suggested. As regards the last part of the question, I am sending the hon. Member a copy of a memorandum which explains the arrangements in force.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether it is proposed to divide the untenanted land acquired on the Craven Wade estate, county Meath, among the local applicants and occupiers of uneconomic holdings in the neighbourhood?

I am informed by the Estates Commissioners that in acquiring the lands on the Wade estate they had in mind the provision of holdings for evicted tenants whose applications had been approved. They propose later on to distribute any of the lands not required for that purpose among other suitable persons coming within the Land Purchase Acts, not excluding any who are now serving in the War or who may do so.

asked the Chief Secretary what is the result of the appeal in the case of Terence Fee, Cornagee, Black-lion, an old age pensioner, appeal number N.B. 2794; what means has this old man; and will he consider the pensioner's request that another inspector be sent to examine into the case?

Terence Fee's claim is under investigation.

asked the Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture (Ireland) whether all the instructors in dairying are paid the same salary; and, if not, why, or do those paid the higher salaries hold certificates of competency in creamery management under the Department?

The information as to the salaries of instructors in dairying sought in the first portion of the question was supplied fully in my reply of 30th ultimo to the hon. Member. The holding of the Department's creamery managers' certificate is not a condition of appointment to an instructorship, and the grant of increases of salary to competent instructors does not therefore depend on their holding that certificate.

asked what was the total amount of money expended by the Department on the recent civic exhibition held in Dublin; to what section of the Department was the expenditure charged; whether Irishmen were in charge of the creamery portion of the exhibits; and whether some of those exhibits gave cause for criticism and dissatisfaction amongst Irish creameries?

The total expenditure by the Department on the civic exhibition was £1,560, of which £750 was debited to technical instruction funds, and the remainder to funds for agricultural purposes. The creamery exhibit was in charge of the Department's chief dairying inspector. The Department are not aware of any dissatisfaction amongst Irish creameries having been caused by the exhibit.

asked whether an Advisory Committee in dairying was formed by the Department some years ago; what was the date of its formation; how many meetings that body had held since; have they met to consider the retrenchment now proposed by the Department in the dairying section; and, if not, what are the functions of this Advisory Committee in dairying, and is it still in existence?

In September, 1912, when the Irish Creameries and Dairy Produce Bill was before Parliament, a Committee was formed by the Department to advise them on matters relating to the dairying industry. The Committee, which has not been dissolved, met on one occasion. The functions of the Department's Advisory Committees are confined to advising on the technical aspects of the particular industries concerned, but questions affecting the Department's financial arrangements do not come within their purview.

asked whether some time ago a series of experiments, extending over several years, were carried out to determine the relative keeping qualities of butter salted by different brands of salt; whether, as a result, it was found that some brands of Irish manufactured salt gave better results than those extensively imported into Ireland; what was the cost of those experiments; were the results favouring the Irish manufactured article ever published; and, if so, when and where?

Experiments in the use of salt and other preservatives in butter were made by the Department in the years 1909, 1910, and 1911. The experiments were not an exhaustive test of the relative merits of all the different brands of salt on the market and reports on individual brands were consequently not published. In the Department's twelfth annual report it was announced that the general result of the experiments showed that the principal brands of Irish made dairy salt were quite suitable for use in creameries. The total cost of the experiments was £40.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will state the names of the present owners and parties responsible for the maintenance of the Boyne Navigation Company?

This canal is technically a "derelict canal" within the meaning of the Railway and Canal Traffic Act, 1888. The Boyne Navigation Company cannot, however, be relieved of its obligations except on the application of persons or bodies who are prepared to accept the responsibility under an approved scheme. No such scheme has yet been submitted to the Board of Trade.