asked the Secretary to the Treasury if he will state whether the Remington Typewriter Company are still contractors to the Stationery Office?

The answer is in the affirmative.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether his attention has been drawn to the recent order prohibiting Ringsend fishermen from trawling within a fifteen-miles radius of Kingstown; whether he is aware of the hardship this order inflicts on those engaged in the fishing industry of Ringsend; if he is aware that the trawlers prohibited range from five to ten tons and are unfit to go the distance requested by the order; and if he will take steps to withdraw the order, so far as it applies to the fishing industry?

My right hon. Friend has asked me to reply to this question. No representation has been received by the Admiralty from the fishermen at Ringsend. They should put their case before the Vice-Admiral, Queenstown; but no promise can be given that restrictions which are adopted for naval reasons can be withdrawn.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War why Major Shepherd, of the West York Regiment, was asked to resign his commission; what was the result of the inquiry held as to his conduct; and what opportunities of explanation were afforded him before he was obliged to resign?

This officer was called upon to resign in view of the unsatisfactory nature of the reports rendered with regard to him which indicated general slackness in the performance of duty. Particular matters alleged against him had previously been investigated, and the correctness of the charges verified by a Court of Inquiry. Major Shepherd submitted statements and a statutory appeal under Section 42 of the Army Act, and these were all duly considered before effect was given to his resignation.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War if he can state the quantity of petrol consumed during the last Zeppelin raids for the purpose of flares for lighting up Royal Flying Corps landing grounds; whether the electric power adjacent to the various aerodromes can be utilised for illuminating night landing grounds; whether special petrol-driven electric searchlights have been provided at the different aerodromes in close proximity to electric power stations which have not been utilised; and whether steps will now be taken to put a stop to the waste in this respect that occurs on the occasion of each raid and also during practice night flights?

The information asked for in the first part of the question would have to be specially ascertained, and I hardly think this is necessary. Electric power adjacent to the aerodrome could be employed in some cases, but petrol flares are more efficient and are preferred by the pilots. Portable lights are in use at some places round London, but it is not intended to make any general alteration in the present arrangements.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether the Admiralty have forwarded a suggestion embodying plans to save life in towns in the event of Zeppelin raids prepared by Mr. William Lee, Entaveeny, county Cavan, to his Department; has this scheme been considered, and with what result; will he state how many plans of a similar nature have reached his Department; how many have been adopted; and; if any remuneration has been paid for such schemes?

Search has been made, but no trace can be found of any letter from Mr. William Lee. Hundreds of suggestions in connection with Zeppelin raids have been received, and careful consideration has been given in each case; but in no case has any remuneration been paid to the writer.

asked (1) whether parents are refused permission to claim Home service only for sons who voluntarily enlisted before they had by their birth certificates attained the age of nineteen years; whether boys of eighteen enlisted under the group system and boys of eighteen called up for service under the Military Service Act cannot be sent abroad until by their birth certificates they have reached the age of nineteen; whether regulations will be issued for the instruction of commanding officers and parents in this matter, so as to ensure that boys enlisted under the voluntary system, under the group system, and under the Military Service Act shall receive the same treatment as regards foreign service; and (2) whether the group and the class boys of eighteen years old must be aged according to their birth certificates, whereas boys who enlisted under the voluntary system must be aged according to their attestation forms, which, to allow of their enlistment, required them to give an age of not less than nineteen years; and whether the statement that men of Group 1 and Class I will not be sent abroad for active service before reaching the age of nineteen will in future apply to voluntarily enlisted recruits who have not attained the age of nineteen but are liable, according to the statement of 2nd November, to be sent abroad if their physique is considered by the medical authorities to be equivalent to that of a man of eighteen and a half?

The age of a man who enlisted under the voluntary system is determined by the age given by him at the time of his attestation. The age of a man enlisted under the group system or deemed to be attested under the Military Service Act is determined by the age given on his registration under the National Registration Act. Men enlisted under the voluntary system who on attestation gave their ages as nineteen or over are therefore deemed to be over nineteen, and as such are liable to be sent abroad if their physique is considered by the medical authorities to be equivalent to that of a man of eighteen and a half. Men of Group 1 and Class 1 also become liable to be sent abroad when they reach the age of nineteen, provided the medical authorities consider them physically fit for service overseas. It is not proposed to make any alteration in these arrangements.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War why the men of the Queen Victoria London Territorials have been attached to the London Irish Rifles; and is he aware that there is discontent among the men at being separated from their own unit and that their quarters at Warminster are very unsatisfactory from a sanitary point of view?

These men were attached to the London Irish Rifles because this battalion was urgently in need of men. I will have inquiry made in regard to the last part of the question.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether a medical travelling board, consisting of one surgeon-general, three majors, and one lieutenant, attended at centres in the Eastern Command to examine soldiers and place them in certain medical categories for service and discharge; whether one of the majors was specially selected for his experience of conditions at the front; whether their recommendations have been cancelled by a standing medical board, consisting of a retired lieutenant-colonel and one subaltern, summoned by the A. D. M. S. of the district; and whether it is in the interests of the Service that recommendations made by the travelling medical board should be thus nullified by the action of officers junior to themselves?

The function of a travelling medical board are different from those of a standing medical board. The travelling medical board places the men in the prescribed categories and the standing board determines questions of invaliding. I am informed that no travelling medical board constituted as described has sat anywhere in the Eastern Command and that no case has been brought to notice in which the recommendations of a travelling medical board have been cancelled by a standing medical board.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War if Private Lewis, No. 34678, C Company, 20th Battalion Welsh Regiment (3rd Rhondda), now at Kinmel Park Camp, is a prisoner for refusing to submit to vaccination; and if instructions will be given for his immediate release?

Inquiry is being made.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether the records of B Company of the 5th South Lancaster Regiment show that this company was inoculated twice for typhoid fever while stationed at St. Helens in November, 1914?

I am obtaining information on this point.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that the carriage of letters between post offices and railway stations in London has failed in many cases owing to a shortage of men available for the contractors; whether he is aware that appeals for exemption from military service for a number of men engaged by Messrs. McNamara and Company, Limited, on the London mail service are under consideration by the local tribunal; whether he is aware that the Ministry of Munitions has refused to grant war service badges for the men engaged by the said contractor on mail work; and whether he will take steps in the interests of the country to ensure the continuance of these mail services?

The cases of employés of the General Post Office and employés engaged by Messrs. McNamara and Company, Limited, are totally different. The firm in question are employed both on Government and private work. It is probably for this reason that their employés have not been granted war service badges. The fact that the local tribunal have the cases under consideration seems to show that the importance of the Government work is fully recognised. The hon. Member will recognise that care must be taken to avoid exempting men engaged solely on private work.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that, before the introduction of Lord Derby's scheme, young single motor mail drivers in the employ of Messrs. McNamara and Company, Limited, London mail contractors, endeavoured to enlist in the motor transport section of the Army Service Corps at 6s. a day, and were refused by the recruiting officers because they were starred as being employed on London mail work; and whether, in the event of his deciding to allow these men to be called to the Colours, either as attested men or under the Military Service Act, 1916, they will be allowed to join the particular unit they desired to join before any form of attestation or compulsion was introduced, and to receive the rates of pay in force at the time they originally tried to enlist?

It is impossible to give this guarantee. A certain number of vacancies in branches other than the Infantry are kept for each group as they are called up. These men's applications will be considered with others when their groups are called up, and provided there are vacancies and they are considered suitable to fill them they will be allowed to go to Motor Transport, Army Service Corps, but will be paid at the rates now in force.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether he will afford ample opportunity to Commanding Officers of Territorial Battalions and to Officers in Command of Administrative Centres to state their views officially before any decision is arrived at in respect of the changes contemplated in regard to Administrative Centres by No. 648 of 24th March, 1916?

The object of grouping the Administrative Centres is economy in personnel and money. Those concerned have been consulted, and the War Office have asked for such proposals as the local military authorities consider practicable.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether arrangements have been made so that officers of Territorial Battalions who are on active service shall not lose precedence when officers who are junior to them in length of service are sent out from home to join the Territorial Battalions which are on active service?

Yes, Sir; every precaution has been taken in the direction mentioned.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War if the convoy provided by the cinematograph trade for the use of the troops in Mesopotamia has yet been despatched?

Perhaps my hon. Friend will be good enough to speak to me. I cannot give the answer to the question in public.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War (1) whether Stanley Oxley was arrested near Ayr on 10th or 11th April; whether he was taken subsequently to Bristol; whether he has been without any civil trial taken to the barracks and forced to wear khaki; where he now is; are his health and conduct satisfactory; (2) whether D. P. Playfair is an absentee under the Military Service Act, 1916; whether, on the 31st March, he was fined £25 at Greenwich and handed over to the military; whether he has refused to obey orders and has been punished; if so what punishment he has received; where he now is; (3) whether he will give information about Samuel D. Munns, of 24, Hanover Street, Mossley, Manchester, who was granted non-combatant service by the Appeal Tribunal; whether he was arrested at his own home on 8th April; whether and, if so, why he was refused his request to be taken before a Civil Court; whether he was taken to Ashton-under-Lyme barracks and there locked up; whether he has been punished and, if so, how; where he now is; and (4) whether he has inquired into the case of F. Howard, of No. 3, Frederick Street, Warrington, who was arrested on 8th April as an absentee under the Military Service Act; why he was not taken before a Civil Court; whether he has been taken to Ayr; whether he has refused to obey orders; where he is now; and what punishment is he undergoing?

I am calling for reports on these matters.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether men rejected as medically unfit for service in the naval forces of the Crown since 14th August, 1915, are exempt from military service; whether the instructions of the War Office to recruiting officers on the subject are and have been uniform; and, if not, whether he will issue instructions which will secure uniformity?

Men who are rejected as medically unfit for service in the Navy are not excepted by the Military Service Act from military service, and recruiting officers who are in doubt have been so informed.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War if he is aware that the commanding officer of the Manchester University Officers' Training Corps on 14th April refused to enlist an attested single man, who had obtained a tribunal temporary postponement, on no other ground that he was waiting further in- structions from the War Office; and whether this corps is now open to accept suitable recruits?

I cannot pronounce an opinion on this case without further information; but I would remark that it is unnecessary to enlist attested single men since they are already soldiers.

asked the Minister of Munitions whether any inquiry has been made respecting the permanent building situated at Ballycorus, South Dublin, near Shank-hill Railway Station; whether he is aware that these premises were formerly worked in connection with lead mining and manufacture and at present are in partial use; and whether he will cause an examination and inquiry to be made with a view to utilise them as a munitions factory?

The works referred to have been examined. They are not, however, considered to be suitable for munition work.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he has official information as to the quantity of hops imported into the United States of America from Europe since the beginning of the War?

In the twelvemonths, August, 1914-July, 1915, the total quantity of hops imported into the United States of America was 5,160 tons. During the following six months the imports totalled 118 tons. Particulars for a later period are not available and imports from European countries are not distinguished in the United States Official Monthly Trade Returns.

asked whether any and, if so, what quantity of hops were imported in 1915 through neutral ports from the part of Belgium occupied by the Germans?

34,194 cwts. of hops were consigned to the United Kingdom from Belgium in the year 1915. Of this quantity 320 cwts. were imported from Rotterdam, and may be presumed to have come from the part of Belgium in enemy occupation. The whole of the remainder was imported viâ Dunkirk.

asked what was the values, in thousands of pounds sterling, of the imports for home consumption and of the exports of domestic produce in the years 1900 and 1913 of France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States, respectively, from and to the United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, India, and other British territories, France, Germany, the United States, other protected foreign countries, other non-protected foreign countries, and all countries, in respect of goods mainly manufactured (including food, drink, and tobacco), and goods mainly unmanufactured (including food, drink, and tobacco)?

In the present great pressure of war work I am not prepared to require my Department to undertake the compilation of elaborate statistical returns of this character.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he can state the total numbers of steamers, and their respective nationalities, which loaded cargoes of coal for Italy in the ports of the Tyne, the Hartlepools, Hull, Blyth, Glasgow, and Leith during the months of January and February, 1916; and whether he can state the number and tonnage of the steamers which loaded coal at these ports for Italy during the month of March, 1916, giving their respective nationalities?

The number and nationality of vessels which loaded coal for Italy during January, February, and March, 1916, from the Tyne Ports, the Hartlepools, Hull, Blyth, Glasgow, and Leith, are as follows:—

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether the numbers of British and Italian steamers, respectively, which loaded coal from Cardiff (including Penarth and Barry) for Italy in the month of March, 1916, are typical of the relative numbers and tonnage of vessels of the two countries carrying coal from the ports of the United Kingdom, or are the Cardiff figures exceptional?

If the hon. Gentleman will compare the Cardiff figures for March (given in answer to a question by the hon. Member for the Toxteth Division on 17th April) with the figures for March for other ports (given in answer to a question to-day) he will be able to draw his own conclusion.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether, in view of the proposed restriction of brewing output under the Output of Beer (Restriction) Bill and in order to remove the danger of free tenants being forced into a tie to procure their supplies, he will provide that free tenants, on absolute proof of no tie, may obtain a permit from the Customs and Excise to purchase beer from any brewer, quantity not exceeding 72 per cent. of the supply for the period cited for restriction; and, where the house has been freed or a new licence granted since the period, a pro rata supply of the first year's trading, the beer so supplied not to be reckoned as part of the 28 per cent. brewer's reduction?

The position of free houses which is likely to result from the restriction of the output of beer is at present engaging my attention, and I hope that it may be possible to devise some arrangement which will secure to them a reasonable share of the reduced output.

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that Mr. Maloney, a tenant on the Debora Fitzmaurice property at Duagh, North Kerry, was evicted in March, 1888, for the non-payment of a half-year's rent; whether the case has been inquired into and reported upon; and whether he will take steps to carry out the promises made by the inspectors to reinstate the evicted tenant in his evicted holding or in an equivalent one?

An application for reinstatement has been received by the Estates Commissioners from James Maloney in respect of a holding on the Fitzmaurice Estate, county Kerry, formerly occupied by him and now in the possession of another tenant. The application will be considered when the Commissioners are dealing with the estate, but they are not at present in a position to state what action, if any, they may take in the matter.

asked the Home Secretary how many votes taken in the ballot in the parish of Llansilin, under the Welsh Church Act, were in favour of including the parish in England, and how many in favour of including it in Wales, and what were the numbers of irregular voting papers and late papers, respectively?

The total number of regular votes taken in the ballot under Section 9 of the Welsh Church Act, 1914, in the parish of Llansilin, in favour of including it in England were 228, and in favour of including it in Wales 255. There were also five late papers and fifty-four irregular papers.