asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether it was by his direction or that of the censor the case of Mr. Michael Begley, at Tralee, was reported in the newspapers as a case of refusing to give name and address, the fact being that Mr. Begley is a teacher of Irish and gave his name and address in that language; and whether the case itself and the manner of reporting it represent the attitude of the Government towards that language?

No such direction was given. Begley did not give his name in Irish, but he gave an assumed name in the vernacular.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland if he is aware that the Mountmellick District Council have received fifty-seven applications from labourers and artisans from the town of Mountmellick for allotments of land under the Government food production scheme; that the district council have only received one offer of 5 acres from a landholder in that district; and, in view of the failure to acquire such land by agreement, will compulsory powers be exercised by the Department of Agriculture?

The Department of Agriculture have not received any communication from the Mountmellick District Council in reference to the matter. Under Section 12 of the Labourers (Ireland) Act, 1886, the rural district council could acquire land compulsorily on lease independently of the Department of Agriculture.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether the Royal Garrison Artillery is closed to youths until they reach the age of eighteen years and eight months; and whether, seeing that youths are now called up for military service at eighteen and that they are then precluded from joining the Royal Garrison Artillery, he will consider the desirability of so altering the regulations as to make the Royal Garrison Artillery open to youths of eighteen?

Recruits are posted to units in accordance with military requirements. Youths fit for general service between the ages of eighteen and eighteen and eight months are posted at present to specially selected battalions of Infantry.

asked whether the Army Medical Department has now all the medical assistance it requires; and, if so, why appeals are being made for more doctors?

Yes, Sir; the Army Medical Department is receiving the fullest assistance from the medical profession and scientific organisations. The system of reliefs for medical men, who have completed one year, requires that they should be relieved by those who have not yet served.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War if he intends taking any action to remedy the abuses complained of by officers serving in the Army relative to promotion?

I would refer my hon. Friend to the statement which I made in Debate last Thursday.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War under what circumstances the Royal Regment of Artillery (Horse, Field, and Garrison) was split up into two lists for promotion, namely, one branch the Royal Horse and Royal Field Artillery, and the other branch the Royal Garrison Artillery; is he aware that though a promise was given them that neither branch would suffer as regards the officers' general list for promotion, etc., owing to this division, the Royal Garrison Artillery promotion has since been much slower than the other branch, and that the Royal Garrison Artillery officers are to-day dissatisfied with the comparative rate of promotion, as illustrated in the official seniority and distribution lists of January, 1917; whether he is aware that the promotion to the rank of major compares as follows, namely, Royal Horse and Royal Field Artillery, page 4 of the lists, junior major first commission July 1904, whilst Royal Garrison Artillery, page 21, junior major first commission July 1901, whereas if promotion in the two branches were equalised, as originally promised, the Royal Garrison Artillery captains would be to-day promoted major down to and including 194 on page 22 of the January lists, so as to place such promotion on the same scale as the other branch (in respect whereof promotions to the rank of major down to No. 24 on page 4 have been made since the January list was issued); and whether he will explain why 194 captains in the Royal Garrison Artillery should thus be inequitably treated in the matter of promotion?

The object of dividing the Royal Artillery into two-branches was to secure greater efficiency in view of the advance in artillery science by keeping officers in the mounted or dismounted branches for the whole of their service. In answer to the second part of the question, promotion in the Royal Artillery is now under consideration, in accordance with the promise which I gave to the hon. Member for Brentford on the 14th ult.

asked the Financial Secretary to the War Office why Charles Richard Davis, s.s., No. 17413, 27th Labour Company, Army Service Corps, who was engaged at Catherine Street Labour Bureau in October, 1915, at the rate of 4s. per day, was, on his discharge from Catterick on 1st November. 1916, paid 1s. per day less for ninety-three days than the rate due to him, making £4 13s. in all; and if that amount will be refunded?

I am having inquiry made.

asked the Minister of Munitions who is responsible for recommending Mrs. Culhane, sister of Mrs. Sheehy-Skeffington, for the post of welfare superintendent at the National Shell Factory, Dublin; whether Mrs. Culhane had been at any previous time employed at similar work, and what are her qualifications for a post which involves dealing with numbers of working women; whether Mrs. Culhane has recommended the dismissal of the voluntary workers who, since the establishment of the factory, had managed the munitions canteen; whether the wages of the paid workers who have taken the place of the volunteers will be added to the cost of the food; and whether the change has already resulted in an increased tariff?

The reply to the first two parts of the question is that Mrs. Culhane was recommended by the official Board of Management of the Dublin National Shell Factory, and her appointment was approved by the Ministry. Mrs. Culhane had previous to her appointment taken part in social welfare work.The reply to the last three parts of the question is in the negative. It was not Mrs. Culhane but the official Board of Management that recommended that the canteen at the factory should, in accordance with the usual practice now prevailing, be carried on by paid workers. It is not the fact that the cost of food has been increased by the expense of the wages of the paid workers; but, on the contrary, it is anticipated that, as the result of the increase of custom which has come to the canteen since the change, and of the economies in management which have been effected, the cost of wages will be more than recouped. It is, further, not the fact that any increase in the tariff has been charged since the change was made.

asked the Secretary of State for India what steps, if any, have been or are being taken to increase in India the production of the better qualities of cotton which are most suitable for use in this and Allied countries?

I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply given to the hon. Member for Bury on the 11th July last, and shall be glad to obtain for him a set of the Papers mentioned if he so desires. The whole question of the improvement of cotton cultivation in India is now under consideration.

asked the Secretary of State for India when the Royal Commission on the Public Services in India was appointed; when the sittings at which evidence was taken were held; whether the evidence was printed immediately after the sittings at which it was heard; and when and where the evidence was printed and, if any volumes were sent over from India, how many sets?

The Commission was appointed on 31st August, 1912. Oral evidence was taken at sittings in 1913 and 1914. A Report of the evidence was printed immediately after each day's sitting. The contents of Volumes II. to X., which represent the first year's work, were printed in India at different provincial presses, and 1,500 copies were sent to England. The contents of Volumes XI to XX., representing the second year's work, were printed in England. Volume XII. contains evidence taken in this country. The decision to print the other volumes also here was made on the ground of convenience and to save time. In these volumes the oral evidence is not given in full, but as a précis compiled from the original shorthand notes, and corrected by the witness. The printing in England was done from the précis thus corrected.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies (1) if he has yet received the Report which he promised last October to obtain upon the cases of Messrs. Goonewardena, Goonseka, and Perera, of Hanwilla, in Ceylon, and if he can now say whether these gentlemen were sentenced to death by court-martial; whether this sentence was commuted; whether at a later date their innocence was completely established; and, if so, whether any reparation has been made to them for the injury they have suffered; and (2) whether the Governor of Ceylon is satisfied that Messrs. Goonewardena, Goonseka, and Perera were sentenced to death upon false evidence; whether those who gave this evidence have yet been placed on their trial; and, if not, whether steps will be taken without delay to bring these men to justice?

I have received a Report on this case. These three men were sentenced to death by court-martial on charges of treason and riotously demolishing a mosque. The sentences were commuted by Sir R. Chalmers, then Governor of Ceylon. In the course of an inquiry held shortly afterwards by a Committee of the Executive Council it was decided that the evidence against Goonewardena was unreliable, and he was at once released. The case of the other two men was not so clear, but they were given the benefit of the doubt and also released. The Governor sees no reason for the grant of compensation, seeing that the men were convicted on evidence which was primâ facie conclusive. I am not aware whether any action was taken against any of the witnesses in this case, but I will inquire.

asked the hon. Member for Worcestersire (Bewdley Division) why the Treasury refused to sanction the sale of the respective businesses of the Holmes Chapel Wall Paper Company, the Little Lever Paper Staining Company, the Broadfield Paper Staining Company, Messrs. Fred W. Howarth, Smith, and Butler, Limited, and Messrs. Kinder, M'Dougall, and Company to the Wall Paper Manufacturers, Limited; and whether, seeing that it was not proposed to create or issue debenture stock or shares for cash payment and that the amalgamation will prevent the duplication of buyers and salesmen and release labour, the Treasury will reconsider the matter and sanction the amalgamation?

The Treasury are unable to agree to the proposed issues, which are not considered to be in the public interest at the present time.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland in what year the Commissioners of National Education made the regulation limiting the number of pupils that may be enrolled in national schools, and, seeing that there is a rule of the Board that all children aged three years and over may be so enrolled, will he say why an Order was made that none under six years should be enrolled in the Dooega (Achill) school; is he aware that the manager, the Reverend M. Colleran, P.P., made a request to the resident commissioner to allow grown-up children who were obliged to work during summer and autumn to attend this school during winter and spring, which offer was refused; will he say why the Commissioners did not build an addition to the school, since the necessity for it was first pointed out to and admitted by them twelve years ago; and, seeing that the educational and general interests of the district during the last eighteen years have suffered by a large number of children being deprived of educational facilities, will he now ask the Commissioners to permit all children of the district over six years old to be enrolled and to attend this school until such time after the War as the necessary additional accomodation can be provided?

The Rule was first published in the Code for 1907–8, and in its present form in the Code for 1910–11. If the number of pupils in average attendance exceeds the limit for which accommodation is provided, the Commissioners of National Education require younger children to be excluded, and if the limit of average attendance is reached they may require that pupils under six years of age shall be excluded so as to permit of the enrolment of pupils over that ago who may seek admission to the school. I am informed that some private correspondence to the effect stated took place between the Rev. M. Colleran, P.P., and the Resident Commissioner of National Education. The proposed addition to the present schoolhouse was not proceeded with as it appeared that a new school in a more central position would have been more satisfactory. On the application of the manager, the Commissioners gave provisional sanction for the erection of a new schoolhouse, but the Board of Works reported that the site offered was not suitable, and the proposal was dropped. The Commissioners are at present in correspondence with the manager of the Dooega National School, who has already been advised that so long as there are other children available no child under six years of age may be placed on the rolls, and he is now being asked for particulars of children over that age whom he desires to have admitted to the school.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he has received a resolution from the South Tipperary County Council protesting against the Order of the Commissioners of National Education prohibiting national teachers who have been appointed to the commission of the peace from adjudicating as magistrates; and, if so, what steps, if any, he intends to take to have this Order withdrawn?

I have received the resolution referred to, and have been in communication with the Commissioners of National Education on the subject of the appointment of national school teachers to the magistracy in Ireland, but I have not any jurisdiction to make an effective Order of the kind suggested.

asked whether, having regard to the fact that the offer made by the Congested Districts Board for the congested estate of the Misses Hunter, in the parish of Turlough, county Mayo, was refused, the Board will now proceed to acquire the estate under the compulsory clauses of the Land Act of 1909?

The Congested Districts Board have been obliged to suspend for a time negotiations for the purchase of further estates, and they cannot take any steps with a view to the compulsory acquisition of the property referred to at present.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland if the Phibbs Irwin estate (in Lunacy) was, before the War, valued by engineers of the Congested Districts Board with a view to purchase; have all the adjoining estates been acquired by the Board; and, having regard to the congestion on the Phibbs Irwin estate and the poverty and discontent amongst the tenants, will he advise the Board to purchase the estate without further delay?

The estate referred to was valued before the War, and the Congested Districts Board made an, offer which was not accepted. The Board have purchased a large number of estates in the neighbourhood of this property, but they have been obliged to suspend for a time negotiations for the purchase of further estates, and they cannot at present take steps with a view to acquiring the property.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland if Mr. John Duncan has refused to sell to the Congested Districts Board his small congested estate in the parish of Turlough, county Mayo; if this property was purchased by the Land Commission from a former owner so far back as 1906, after which the tenants paid only interest on the purchase money in lieu of rent until the Land Commission annulled the sale and the tenants had to resume payment of the old rents, which were considerably in excess of the interest referred to; and, having regard to all the facts of this case, whether he will advise the Board to proceed to acquire the estate compulsorily?

Mr. John Duncan did not refuse to offer his estate for sale to the Congested Districts Board, but the map and other documents to enable the Board to consider the question of purchase were not lodged. The estate was not purchased by the Land Commission. Agreements for a direct sale under the Land Act of 1903 were lodged, but after the inspection of the estate the Estates Commissioners decided that they could not declare the property an estate for the purposes of sale. The tenants paid interest on the purchase prices set out in the agreements until the agreements were dismissed, after which they became liable for their former rents. The Congested Districts Board have been obliged to suspend negotiations for the purchase of further estates, and they cannot at present take any steps with a view to the compulsory acquisition of the property.

asked what steps the Estates Commissioners are taking to acquire the late Mr. A. Owen's estate at Insfarney, Rathdowney, for distribution amongst uneconomic holders in that district?

If the hon. Member refers to the Owen Estate, which comprises the lands of Ballyliinode and Birdwell Big, near Rathdowney, the Estates Commissioners have acquired this estate, and undertakings have been signed by the tenants for the purchase of their holdings, and the allottees of untenanted lands have been placed in possession of their allotments.

asked the Chief Secretary for Iceland if he will arrange that assistant matrons in Irish prisons may have every alternate Sunday off duty, as is the rule in all English prisons?

Under the recent scheme of reorganisation, it is hoped that it may be found possible to give this relaxation.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland (1) if he will state the number of warders who have been promoted to Class I. and the number promoted to Class II. under the new Irish prisons scheme in each of the following prisons: Belfast, Mountjoy, Waterford, Cork (male), Tralee, Limerick, Galway, Sligo, and Londonderry and Armagh; where and on what date the examination, as a result of which these men were promoted, was held; on what subjects were they examined; who were the examiners; and in what manner it is intended to deal with such promotions in future; and (2) whether neither capacity, length of service, nor existing remuneration were taken into account when filling Class II. at the inception of the now scheme for the Irish prisons service; whether promoted warders with twenty years' service and upwards who were in receipt of pensionable allowances for performing special duties under the old scheme were put in Class III., whilst junior and other officers who were never before promoted were put in Class II.; whether it was known to the staff of Belfast and other prisons after the governors' return from their visit to the General Prisons Board office in November last, and at least one week before the promulgation of the new scheme, the names of the warders who were to be placed in Class II.; whether any test whatever as to their literary or other qualifications was applied; whether heretofore promotion in the Irish prisons service has only been obtained either as a result of private influence or of a secret and confidential list supplied by the governor of each prison to the Prisons Board in the June of each year; and whether, in order to allay the present feeling of discontent existing throughout the service and to ensure fair play in future for competent warders eager for promotion and who are unable to command private influence or obtain a place on the governors confidential list, he will take steps to have established some system of competitive and qualifying examination as exists in all other branches of the Civil Service

The warders in Classes I. and II. were taken from the General Prisons Service, and the numbers allocated to the several prisons will depend or, exigencies of the service which vary from time to time. There is a qualifying literary examination on entering the service. The examination on which promotion depends is that made by the Board upon continuous knowledge of the conduct of the officer in the performance of his duties. As to the other matters in these questions, I must refer the hon. Member to the previous answer I gave on the 22nd ultimo.

asked the Home Secretary how many natives of British India are now in prison in this country?

This information is not available, and could not be obtained without making special inquiry throughout the prisons.