asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will state the gross revenue from Ireland as collected for each year from 1893–4 to the 31st March, 1916; the amount by which the total for that period is reduced by Treasury accountants in order to credit Ireland with only what they call true revenue; the estimated gross revenue as collected from Ireland for the financial year 1916–17 under the operation of the law now in force if left unaffected by the forthcoming Budget; the estimated reduction of credit for that sum by the accountants as aforesaid; and whether he is aware that this reduction is devoid of statutory sanction, is repudiated in Ireland, and would be impossible if Ireland controlled her own finances?

The gross revenue collected and the true contribution of Ireland for the years 1893–4 to 1914–15 will be found in the series of annual returns commencing with H.C. 314 of 1894 and ending with H.C. 309 of 1915. I am not at present in a position to give information with regard to 1915–16 and 1916–17. I fear I cannot undertake to deal with the subject raised in the last part of the question within the limit of this reply. The hon. Member is aware that the subject has received exhaustive consideration by Parliament on many occasions.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether it is proposed, by selling petrol on the card system or otherwise, to check the waste of this commodity on the part of pleasure-seekers and especially those attending race meetings in motor cars and taxi-cabs?

I think the object which my hon. and gallant Friend has in view will be sufficiently attained by the increased Licence Duties on motor cars which I introduced yesterday.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if his attention has been called to the new motor omnibus service recently started between Reading and Ascot; and whether, seeing that the public have done without such service for many years in the past and that it is militating against the success of the Government's appeal to private individuals to economise motor spirit in the public interest, the Government propose to take any action in the matter?

My attention had not been called to the service referred to. I fear I could not in any case express an opinion whether it is in the public interest without full knowledge of all the circumstances.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether his attention has been drawn to the recommendations in the Report of the Royal Commission on Venereal Diseases with respect to the examination of prisoners; whether it is his intention to carry them into effect in Ireland; and whether he will give an undertaking that no female prisoner or female person detained in a Borstal institution shall be locally examined except by a woman doctor?

So far as the General Prisons Board for Ireland are concerned, no difficulty will be made in giving effect to the recommendation of the Royal Commission on Venereal Diseases that where the medical officer of a prison considers that an examination of a woman is necessary it should be made by a woman doctor. In the only prison that is wholly occupied by women prisoners in Ireland the medical officer is a woman.

asked the Secretary of State for India if he will lay Papers upon the Table of the House explaining the steps taken by the Government of India to regulate the trade in wheat between India and the United Kingdom during the year 1915; the quantities handled by Government; the prices paid and received; and the use to which the profits made are to be put?

I would refer my Noble Friend to the Press communiquø issued on the 22nd April, 1915, and to paragraphs 113 to 116 of the Financial Statement of the Government of India for 1916–17, a copy of which I have now sent to him. It will be laid before Parliament in ordinary course. When the scheme has been wound up and the accounts completed the question of presenting a statement to the House will be considered. Statistics regarding quantities and prices were given in a reply by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture to the hon. Member for the Wilton Division on the 27th October, 1915. Any profits of the scheme will be used for some special Indian objects which have not yet been decided.

asked the Secretary of State for India why the officers of the Indian Army who are serving in Mesopotamia have not received the money allowances in lieu of rations which were promised them for the period since the commencement of the operations there up to the time when they commenced to receive rations in kind; and whether he will see that instructions are given to pay the amounts due at once and also to credit the estates of deceased officers with the amounts due to them?

The matter referred to by my hon. Friend has not been brought before to my notice. If my hon. Friend will furnish me with information of specific instances I shall be happy to make inquiry.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether the Board is satisfied with the arrangements for our North Sea patrol in regard to numbers, equipment, and armament, and the vital nature of the work of the small floating craft?

It is not possible to say more than that the arrangements for the North Sea, patrol are the subject of constant and anxious consideration by the Admiralty, with a view to using the forces at our disposal to the best advantage.

asked the Secretary to the Admiralty whether his attention has been called to the labour conditions prevalent among the artisans and labourers employed in His Majesty's dockyard, Gibraltar; whether he is aware that the present rate of pay to labourers is 13s. 6d. a week and to skilled labourers 16s. 6d. a week with 6d. per week additional as war bonus; that the present weekly wage of the mechanics is 24s. per week with 1s. additional as war bonus; that no increase of wages has been granted to the labourers for years and that previous petitions have been disregarded; that it was not until after eighteen months' consideration had been given to the matter that it was decided to grant the labourers 1d. per day and the mechanics 2d. per day as a war bonus; that the price of food has advanced by over 40 per cent., that 5s. is the usual rent for a single room, and that the overcrowding is such that a single room is often divided to accommodate two families; and whether he will cause investigation to be made with a view to the amelioration of these conditions?

I must refer my hon. Friend to the answer which I gave on Wednesday last to the hon. Member for Devonport in reply to a similar question.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War if he is aware that at Colchester the men of D Company, 12th Essex Regiment, have been asked whether they had been vaccinated within seven years, and all those who replied in the negative were marched to the vaccination department without information as to where they were going and all vaccinated in turn, including those men who had signed "No" to the question on their attestation papers concerning their willingness to be vaccinated; and, in view of the fact that Private R. Faircloth, No. 26957, D Company, was thus vaccinated against his will, will inquiry be made into the matter, and officers warned that before vaccination takes place they should give objectors the opportunity of stating the condition upon which they joined the Army, and claiming their right to exemption?

The Battalion Order issued on the 9th March made it quite clear to the men of "D" Company, 12th Essex Regiment, that the parade on the 15th instant was for vaccination. Private Faircloth did not inform the medical officer that he objected to being vaccinated nor did he state that on attestation he had declined to be vaccinated or re-vaccinated or that "No" was written on his attestation papers against the relevant question. One man of the batch objected to vaccination and was not vaccinated. Private Faircloth would have been treated in the same way if he had asked that he might not be vaccinated.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War (1) whether the 1st Regiment North Devon Hussars has since it left the Peninsula had six officers and twenty-nine men sent in drafts, when they wanted no officers but 300 men; and (2) whether there are five brigades of Cavalry in Egypt without horses, and incomplete in personnel, one regiment being 180 strong, still doing mounted drill on foot; and will he say if there are 10,000 horses near Cairo, with one syce (native) to three or four horses; and, if so, will he take steps to bring men and horses together, a distance of four hours by rail only?

I regret that I cannot undertake to answer questions which deal with the strength of or alleged deficiencies in units serving in the different theatres of war, and I cannot help thinking that the hon. Member may not have realised the undesirability of conveying information to the enemy through the means of questions. I must not be taken as assenting to the accuracy of the statements made in either of these questions.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether he is now in a position to say what steps are proposed to be taken with regard to the lack of control and the insufficient guards placed at the military isolation hospitals in Cherryhinton Road and Newmarket Road, Cambridge?

I will communicate with my hon. Friend when I am in a position to announce to him the measures to be taken.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War if he will give the numbers of courts-martial held at the front since the War started in which the capital sentence was carried out in the case of officers and men; whether in the case of officers a defending advocate is allowed, whilst no such privilege is accorded to the rank and file; whether he is aware that dissatisfaction exists in this country at this differentiation of treatment; and whether, with a view to securing more uniform treatment in all future cases in which a man's life is at stake, he will be granted the right of being defended by a trained advocate before the sentence is pronounced?

The information asked for in the first part of the question cannot be made public. I am not aware that in any case where a man's life is at stake there has been any differentiation of treatment between officers and men. It is not possible in the field to grant the right of being defended by a trained advocate in the circumstances put forward in the question.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War if he will explain the meaning of the term "tradesman" as applied by a recent War Office Order to persons who before enlistment were engaged in agricultural pursuits and whether and to what extent men serving in the Army at Home and not answering to this description will be permitted to assist temporarily in farm work in case of serious necessity?

Commands were instructed that all units should at once be called upon to obtain names of all trained men who before enlistment were engaged in agricultural pursuits. This order was issued with a view to giving early temporary assistance to farmers if required. The term "tradesman" in the question is apparently a mistake for "trained man." Further instructions have been sent out for special facilities to be given for demands by farmers to be met during the month of April.

asked the President of the Local Government Board if he will have inquiries made into the case of Henry Ward, of No. 2, New Road, Ponder's End, who applied to the Enfield Highway Local Tribunal on 16th March for exemption from military service on conscientious grounds, and afterwards appealed to the Middlesex Appeal Tribunal on 27th March, with the result that on both occasions his application was refused, and in particular if he will ascertain whether at the hearing before the Appeal Tribunal the chairman stated that the applicant had appealed as a Socialist and as such could not possibly have a conscience; whether the applicant was not allowed the opportunity to make a statement; whether the hearing lasted altogether about two minutes; whether leave to appeal to the Central Tribunal was refused; whether, at the hearing before the local tribunal, the applicant was also prevented from making a statement and not allowed to call his witnesses; and whether, if it is shown upon inquiry that this man's application has not been properly and fairly considered, the Government will take any steps in the matter?

I have made inquiries of the Appeal Tribunal and am informed that, at the hearing of this case, the chairman did not make the alleged remark, and that the appellant was allowed to and did make a statement and was not stopped or hurried in making his statement.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War on what grounds command pay is refused to officers commanding third-line Territorial units while it is paid to officers commanding other Reserve units; and on what grounds adjutants of third-line Territorial units are not entitled to the same pay as adjutants of other Reserve units?

It has been decided to reorganise third-line depots as battalions. In consequence of this decision the officers commanding and adjutants will receive the same rates of command pay and additional pay as in Regular and Reserve battalions.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that it is the practice of the Swedish paper and pulp mills to send invoices relating to each consignment of goods to the United Kingdom not only to the importing customer but also to the mill agent here, and that, in consequence of such invoices being duplicated, double licences to import have been granted and double supplies obtained; and whether he will cause inquiry to be made into this matter and direct the Paper and Pulp Import Commission to cancel these excess licences, which operate to the prejudice of other consumers and affect detrimentally the importation of pulp which is urgently needed by English mills, because the success of the device has been to unduly increase the imports of manufactured paper?

I understand that a certain amount of duplication could not be avoided during the first week or two of the Royal Commission's work, but that effective steps were taken as soon as possible to prevent it for the future. The necessary adjustment has been made in all cases where duplication has since been found to have occurred, and the Commission would welcome any information the hon. Gentleman may be able to give them as to specific instances which may not have come to their notice.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he can see his way to issue a further list of prohibitions of imports, so that only goods may be imported which are essential for war purposes?

The question of the issue of certain further prohibitions on importation is now being examined in my Department, but I am not yet in a position to make a statement on the subject.

asked the Postmaster-General whether, in the case of a serious telegraphic breakdown involving considerable delay in the transmission of Press messages, morning newspapers, whose private wires are commandeered by the Post Office, could be officially informed of the approximate number of hours' delay on the public wires, with the object of preventing messages being handed in at the General Post Office, London, when there is no reasonable possibility of those messages being transmitted in time for publication in the newspapers concerned; and if arrangements could be made whereby Press messages intended for one newspaper only and not transmitted within a certain number of hours, specified by the sender, could be cancelled, thus relieving the public wire of those messages which through prolonged delay have become useless?

Owing to the last serious storm, all private newspaper circuits, except two to Birmingham, broke down, and there can be no question, therefore, of their having been commandeered. Every effort is being made to repair them, but, meanwhile, newspapers suffer with the general community from the effects of the storm. My Department is anxious to give such information to the public and to the Press as can be usefully given about the condition of the telegraph service, but "delay" is a variable quantity, changing from hour to hour, and particulars of "delay" at a specified moment might be shortly after very misleading. Arrangements already exist whereby telegrams which are likely to be hung up can be cancelled.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will consult with the Allies with a view to a joint declaration to the effect that no peace conditions will be acceptable unless they provide for the identification and appropriate punishment of those, in whatever rank or station, responsible for any inhuman atrocities that may be perpetrated on or after a given date?

I am afraid that I can make no further statement about peace conditions than that which has already been made by the Prime Minister.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what were the numbers of consuls de carrière and British citizens temporarily employed in Consular Service in Norway and Denmark on 4th August, 1914, on 4th August, 1915, and on 4th April, 1916?

In August, 1914, the British subjects employed in the Consular Service in:

An additional one is just going out.

asked what were the staffs, including both honorary and de carrière, of the Legations at Christiania and Copenhagen, respectively, on 4th August, 1914, 4th August, 1915, and 4th April, 1916?

The staff were as follows:—

A Naval Attachø is accredited to both capitals, but resides mainly at Christiania.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether, in conjunction with our Allies, he will invite the Governments of neutral countries to consider what steps should be taken to provide against inhuman acts perpetrated in the present War becoming precedents for the conduct of future wars in which they also might be engaged?

I trust this will be a subject of consideration between the Allies and neutral countries at the close of the War. Without any indication that neutral countries are prepared to take action, it is no use to take it up with them now.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland why Mrs. Anne Carroll, principal teacher, Dernakish national school, county Cavan, has not been given her full salary since 1906; will he say whether her school average since that date entitles her to full payment; what is the amount of the annual deduction in her case; and will he have the question of refunding the arrears of full pay made fully reviewed?

I am informed by the Commissioners of National Education that it is not the case that they have withheld since the year 1906 from Mrs. Carroll—the teacher of Dernakish Girls' National School, County Cavan—any salary to which she was entitled under the terms of the sanctioned regulations. The commencing grade salary of £55 per annum, exclusive of capitation grant awarded to Mrs. Carroll in 1900, was properly fixed on the basis of her average earnings as a teacher from State sources under the former regulations in the three preceding years. She was eligible, so far as the average attendance of pupils at her school is concerned, to have her claims for increments of salary considered at any time after 31st March, 1903, and she would have received increments triennially commencing at that date, which would have had the effect of increasing her grade salary to at least £96 per annum, if she had performed her school duties with the requisite degree of efficiency. The reports on her work as a teacher from the year 1900 up to the present date, however, have not been of a sufficiently favourable nature to permit of the award of any increment to her.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he is aware that purchase agreements on the estate of the M'Gillicuddy, in county Kerry, were signed in the year 1906, and that the holdings of the tenants signing these agreements have not yet been vested; that the holdings on far larger estates in the same county, whose purchase agreements were signed subsequent to the signing of the purchase agreements on the M'Gillicuddy estate, have been vested; and can he state what is the explanation of the delay in vesting the tenants' holdings on the M'Gillicuddy's estate?

The facts are as stated in the question. This estate was inspected some years ago, and in due course the Estates Commissioners issued their requisitions, which required the lodgment of purchase agreements for holdings for the purchase of which agreements had not been lodged. Some of the requisitions have either wholly or partially been complied with, but others are still outstanding, and the Commissioners are not at present in a position to proceed with the vesting of the holdings.

asked the President of the Board of Education in what entrance or pass examinations over which he has jurisdiction a knowledge of any of the dead languages is compulsory; whether in these examinations preferential marks are given over science or any other subject; whether he has the power, as an administrative act, to remove such preference and make these subjects optional; and, if so, whether, in order to encourage the students to devote more time to English language and literature, modern languages, and science, he will bring about this reform?

My right hon. Friend is not aware that the Board have jurisdiction over any entrance or pass examinations in which a knowledge of dead languages is compulsory, or receives preferential treatment, which would enable them to insist as a matter of administration on such a change as my hon. Friend suggests.