asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the Retrenchment Committee have considered the question of the discontinuance during the War of Government Grants to make up the periodic deficits in the Kitchen Committee's accounts?

The Chairman of the Kitchen Committee has been requested to furnish a detailed statement for the consideration of the Retrenchment Committee?

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will state the amount of the war economies effected by each of the Government Departments?

I regret that I am unable to give details for each Department, though as full information as possible will be supplied when the Retrenchment Committee are in a position to issue a further Report. But my hon. Friend may rest assured that all possible steps are being taken to effect economies, and both last year and this year the Treasury have issued special instructions on the subject in connection with the preparation of the Estimates.

asked the Secretary to the Admiralty if he will inform the House the percentage of tonnage owned by each of the following companies which was requisitioned by the Government up to the 1st January, 1915, and the percentage owned by each house under requisition by the Government on the 1st October; British India Steamship Company, Canadian Pacific Steamship Company, Thomas Wilson, Sons, and Company, Raeburn and Verel, Maclay and M'Intyre, Evan Thomas Radcliffe and Company, Foster Hain and Read, Walter Runciman and Company, and the Prince Line Steamship Company?

The particulars asked for are as follows:—

The figures given for the period from the commencement of the War up to 1st January, 1915, represent the proportion which the total time for which the ships requisitioned were on Government service, bears to the full working time of the whole fleet for the period 4th August, 1914, to 1st January, 1915. The details given for 1st October, 1915, show the percentage of ships belonging to the respective firms which were actually on service at that date.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War under what circumstances men of the Hants Yeomanry are being discharged as time-expired; and whether he is aware that this is prejudicial to the success of the appeal for more men?

I have no particular information about the Hants Yeomanry, but Territorial soldiers who are time-expired are invited to continue their service until the end of the War.

asked the Undersecretary of State for War if he is aware that the public are at present unable to distinguish and discriminate between men who have been starred for military service and have not responded to the call made upon them and others who, in the national interest, have been left unstarred, and that consequently unstarred men who are performing useful services to the nation are being subjected to insults and annoyance, which prevent their properly performing their duties; and if he will take prompt steps to enable the public to distinguish between starred and unstarred men, in order that the latter may be able to perform their duties effectively and without unmerited insult?

I entirely sympathise with any man who may be placed in the position mentioned by the hon. Member, but I am unable to suggest any way by which the public may be enabled to distinguish between the two categories mentioned. I doubt, however, whether the public generally are so incapable of distinguishing between men who are performing useful services to the nation and others who may be turning a deaf ear to their country's call as the hon. Gentleman suggests.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether any woman has since the commencement of the War been shot by His Majesty's Forces abroad as a spy?

I would refer my hon. Friend to the written answer I gave him on this subject on the 17th June.

asked the Undersecretary of State for War if he will state the number of cases of and deaths from pyrexia, trench fever, dysentery, typhus fever, pneumonia, cerebrospinal meningitis, typhoid fever (inoculated and uninoculated), and paratyphoid fever (inoculated and uninoculated), among officers and men of the British Army since 1st August, 1914, in the United Kingdom, in France and Belgium, in Egypt, at the Dardanelles, and at Malta, respectively?

This information is not available, and I question whether I should be justified in asking officers and men who would be better employed otherwise to divert their energies to this heavy statistical task.

asked the Under-Secretary for War whether, looking to the success which has attended the issue of the green envelopes to soldiers serving with the British Expeditionary Force in France, arrangements can be made for such soldiers to send more letters home to their wives and relatives than at present?

It is not contemplated to extend the issue of the green envelope, but I am not aware that there is any restriction on the number of letters which soldiers may send to their wives and relatives. Only letters sent by means of the green envelope are exempt from regimental censorship.

asked the Under-Secretary for War how long the enlistment regulations have permitted the enlistment of lads of seventeen years of age as men for service in His Majesty's Army, and whether any conditions are attached to such enlistments as to service at home or abroad; and will he state why, if lads are taken at the age of seventeen, the publicly announced minimum age for the New Armies has never been less than nineteen?

I would refer the hon. Gentleman to the full answer I gave on the 2nd November to the hon. Member for Blackburn.

asked the Under-Secretary for War if he can see his way to provide that medical boards for the purpose of examining recent recruits shall sit more often than at present, to avoid or lessen the expense involved in the partial training and maintenance of recruits subsequently proved to be medically unfit?

Standing boards now exist in all Commands and sit regularly for the purpose of examining recruits, and there are also medical inspectors of recruits in all Commands, who are continually travelling round in their respective districts. These inspectors see and recommend for discharge all recruits not likely to become efficient soldiers.

asked the Under-Secretary for War whether, in the process of enlisting or canvassing for enlistment farmers and farmers' sons, their value as possibly indispensable skilled farm workers will in each case be taken into account, so as to avoid serious reduction in 1916 of the output of human food on the farms now occupied or worked by them; or whether all farmers and farmers' sons of eligible age will be enlisted regardless of their respective values in the process of food production?

The answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative; the second part does not, therefore, arise.

also asked the Under-Secretary for War whether it was with the authority and sanction of the War Office that the President of the Board of Agriculture recently announced at several public meetings of agriculturists that certain specified classes of skilled agricultural workers would not be accepted as Army recruits; if so, whether instructions to this effect has been or will be given to recruiters and to local arbitration tribunals; and whether such men will, in order to protect them against undeserved taunts, be provided with exemption armlets?

I have seen the reports of the proceedings of the meetings referred to, and I do not think there is discrepancy between what was said by Lord Selborne and the principles upon which those responsible for dealing with the registration forms worked. If any man who has been starred presents himself for enlistment he will not be refused, but it is not of course intended to canvass for recruits amongst the starred men. The armlet will not be given to men who have not actually enlisted.

asked the Postmaster-General whether a scheme is in contemplation whereby all special wires will be staffed by men employed directly by the newspaper proprietors; whether he is prepared to permit so large an extension of the practice of sub-contracting; and, if so, will he make any stipulations regarding the wages and working conditions of the telegraphists who will staff public wires loaned to newspaper syndicates or news agencies?

Notice has been given to terminate the existing contracts for newspaper special wires, which are unremunerative. They are only twelve in number. In future wires can be leased by the proprietors of the newspapers concerned under the ordinary private wire agreements. Any private wires which may be taken in place of the special wires given up will be very few in proportion to the numerous private wires already rented, and I see no reason for modifying the existing conditions.

asked the Home Secretary what surveillance, if any, is exercised over women of enemy alien birth married to Britains and residing in this country?

Women of hostile origin, married to British subjects, come within the scope of Regulation 14b of the Defence of the Realm Regulations, and are subject to the general supervision which is kept over suspected persons of hotile origin or association for the purposes of that Regulation and otherwise.

asked the ages of the four persons now undergoing penal servitude in respect of espionage committed since the commencement of the War?

It is undesirable to give the exact ages, but it will perhaps satisfy my hon. Friend if I say that none of them is younger than twenty-five or older than fifty.

asked the Home Secretary how many street traffic fatalities were caused by each class of vehicle in the City of London and Metropolitan Police area during each month of the years 1913 and 1914 and the first nine months of 1915; and if he will indicate the dates on which the various reduced lighting orders became operative?

The following table gives the information asked for; but I desire to say now that the preparation statistics of this kind throws a heavy burden upon the police staff, and withdraws them from more important work arising out of the War, and that I fear I shall not be able to give any further statistics of a like nature in answer to questions:—

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that the Linde British Refrigeration Company, although owned by Germans in the approximate ratio of German 22, British 13, obtained, and still enjoys, advances amounting to £33,000 from a British bank; and, seeing that with the help of this British money this company continues to make profits for its German shareholders, whether he will take steps to provide for this British money being more usefully employed?

I am aware that the Linde British Refrigeration Company, Limited, obtained advances amounting to £33,000 from a British bank before the War, and I believe that the advances are still outstanding. The profits, made by the company are applied in paying interest on advances and dividends to British shareholders, while any dividends which would have been paid in the ordinary course to German shareholders are now paid to the Public Trustee in accordance with the Trading with the Enemy Acts. The withdrawal of advances would probably damage the substantial interests of British shareholders in the company, and I do not propose to take any steps in the matter.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that the Colonial Consignment and Distributing Company, Thomas Borthwick and Sons, Limited, H. S. Fitter and Sons, A. Towers and Company, Limited, and other firms now acting as Government agents for the sale of frozen meat are either owners of, or have a controlling interest in, the refrigerators in which the bulk of the goods they handle are stored; whether, in the case of sales made to themselves under Rule 6 of the Government regulations for the sale of frozen meat on account of His Majesty's Government, the goods are weighed over to them by a scale-man either in their own employ or in the employ of the company in which they have a controlling interest; and, seeing that under such circumstances there will be a tendency on the part of the scalemen to weigh the goods with a favourable draught of the scale in their firm's interest, whether he will adopt the method of the American beef companies and have all the weights in such transactions seen and checked by some employé of his Department?

I must refer my hon. Friend to the answer which I gave him on 19th October.

also asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that the New Zealand Premier has admitted that the Advisory Committee on the Sale of Surplus Frozen Meat have drawn up their scheme of sale with a view of retaining the business in the hands of the present meat monopolists, thus contradicting the official statement here; whether he will appoint a Departmental Committee to inquire into the arrangements of the Government meat business, take evidence, and report promptly; and whether upon that Committee he will place a retail frozen-meat butcher and a working class representative connected with the industry?

I have made inquiries and cannot find that the Prime Minister of New Zealand has made any statement which is contrary to the explanations which I have given in this House. I am not prepared to appoint a Committee as suggested.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture if he will state the amount in quarters of barley and also of malt exported to neutral countries, monthly, for the last twelve months?

The following Table affords the figures which the hon. and gallant Member desires:—

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture what steps have been taken to prohibit or restrict the export of artificial manures and feeding-stuffs?

The exportation of all feeding-stuffs and of nitrate of soda has been prohibited since the first week of the War, and the exportation of other fertilisers has been prohibited for many months. Generally speaking, this prohibition has been absolute, but in some cases exceptions have been made in favour of British Possessions and Allied countries, and, under special conditions, in favour of certain neutral countries for limited quantities by licence.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the British Government or, to his knowledge, the Government of any of the Allies received information in or about April last from the Roumanian Government, and subsequently on one or more occasions from the Greek Government, to the effect that Bulgaria had entered into a treaty or understanding with one or all of the enemy Governments?

Suspicions of an arrangement between Bulgaria and Turkey under German influence have for a long time been entertained in the Balkans, and there were reports of such an arrangement from various sources which I cannot divulge as early as April. The subsequent negotiations between Bulgaria and Turkey in regard to the Dedeagatch railway were, of course, common property at least as early as July.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will state whether application for armed assistance was received and, if so, when, from or on behalf of Serbia during the six months previous to the intentions of Bulgaria becoming manifest?

The Serbian Minister here suggested on 7th July that the possibility of sending some British troops to Serbia should be considered, but at that time it was thought by the military authorities that the troops could not be spared from elsewhere.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will state what are the rights, respectively, of the shareholders and the German Government in the profits and assets of the Reichsbank?

"Brockhaus' Konversations Lexikon" gives the following information:—

The Bank was founded by Prussian Edict in 1765 as a State bank; later it was reorganised as the Prussian Bank with a "private" capital, first of 10,000,000, then of 20,000,000 Thalers, part of which was contributed by the Prussian Government. When in 1875 it was converted into the Reichsbank, the capital was raised to 120,000,000 Mark. The Prussian Government then received back its contribution to the capital (1,906,800 Thalers) and one-half of the reserve fund, besides an indemnity of 15,000,000 Mark. The bank is founded with private capital, without any contribution by the Government, but is a public institution of the Government, invested with the character of a "juridical person." Since 1891 the net profits are distributed as follows: A regular dividend of 3½ per cent. on the original capital is paid to the proprietors (anteilseigentumer); of the surplus 20 per cent. is transferred to the reserve fund, as long as it does not exceed one-fourth of the original capital (now attained), and the remainder is divided equally between the proprietors and the State. Should the dividend to which the proprietors are entitled exceed 6 per cent., they will receive only one-quarter of the surplus, the remaining three-quarters going to the State.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs why His Majesty's Government consider it necessary to consult our Allies as to the time and manner of recognising the existing de facto Government of the Republic of Mxico; whether such a course was followed by His Majesty's Government in the case of a former de facto Government in Mexico; and whether he is aware (seeing that it is proposed to follow the course already taken by the United States Government) that the delay which is evidently taking place on the part of His Majesty's Government is likely to prejudice British trade and commerce in the Republic of Mexico?

His Majesty's Government naturally wish in this, as in other matters, to act in consultation with their Allies. The question has not previously arisen because His Majesty's Government have not had occasion to recognise any other Government in Mexico since the War began. The procedure which is now being followed has the approval of the representatives of the Allied Powers at Washington as well as of His Majesty's Ambassador, who is in consultation with His Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires for Mexico. There is nothing to show that it is in any way injurious to British interests in Mexico.

asked the Attorney-General whether, in deciding that no further proceedings should be taken against the firm of H. R. Merton and Company, the Law Officers gave consideration to the judgment of the President of the Prize Court given in the case in which that firm was recently concerned?

Full consideration has been given to the judgment referred to. I have the best authority for stating that the President did not intend to express any opinion upon the question whether proceedings should be taken in any other Court. That is a matter for which the Law Officers are responsible. The matter was decided upon purely legal grounds, such as would be evident to any competent lawyer acquainted with the facts.

asked the Attorney-General if any cargoes, not being contraband of war, have been condemned by the Prize Court under the Orders in Council of 11th March last, or whether in all such cases the cargo has either been purchased or compensation given to the owners; and whether, in any such cases, the Crown has asked for condemnation and confiscation?

The answer to the first and last parts of the question is in the negative. In answer to the second part the ordinary practice in cases when the goods are not released is to sell them and hand over the proceeds to the shippers. In two exceptional cases compensation has been paid.

asked the Secretary for Scotland if his attention had been drawn to the statements made by Professor Bottomley regarding the value of bacterised peat as a fertiliser; and whether, in view of the desirability of utilising in some way the deposits of peat in Scotland, he can see his way, without violating any principle of economy at this time, to support and encourage Professor Bottomley's endeavours?

The answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. The Board of Agriculture for Scotland have been in communication with Professor Bottomley with a view to arranging for experiments in Scotland with bacterised peat.

asked why the Reports on the trade of Morocco and of the Congo, in the year 1913, should only be made available to Parliament and the public at the beginning of November, 1915?

But for the War these Reports would have been published without delay, but the sudden and heavy strain due to the new and urgent duties thrown upon the staffs of the Foreign Office and the Board of Trade has made it impossible to complete the work of preparation and revision at an earlier date.