asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give the number of Income Tax payers in the year 1913–14 and in the year 1916–17?

Owing to the system of assessment and collection at the source, no definite statistics are available as to the total number of persons with incomes in excess of the exemption limit (£160 in 1913–14 and £130 in 1916–17), but the number is roughly estimated as follows:—

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer why certificates for dividends paid in shares of stock sent from America to holders in this country are removed from the envelopes by the Censor before the letters are forwarded and are retained, although they relate to the stock of companies whose securities have not been requisitioned by the Government; whether this is done by the authority of the Director of Military Intelligence or by the Treasury, or by whose authority is it done; for how long and on what terms is it intended to retain the securities so removed; what use is now being made of them; and, if no use is made of them, what purpose is served by withholding them from their owners which would not be attained equally by calling for their deposit if and when they are specifically required for Government purposes?

In order to prevent the negotiation in this country of enemy securities, all securities arriving from abroad are detained by the postal censor unless they are accompanied by a declaration in the usual form signed by the person who forwards the securities from abroad with regard to their ownership since the War. If securities arrive in this country unaccompanied by the necessary declaration, the persons to whom they are addressed are given notice of their arrival and asked to furnish the Treasury with information as to the ownership of the securities since the date of the outbreak of the War. If the information which can be supplied by the addressees is sufficient to show that no enemy or person on the Statutory List has had any interest in the securities since the outbreak of the War, instructions are given to the postal censor to release them. The retention of the securities is in no way connected with the requisition of Dollar Securities under the Defence of the Realm (Securities) Regulations.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland if he is aware that at a meeting of the board of guardians of the Omagh Union, held on Saturday, the 21st ultimo, the majority of the guardians, being Nationalists, elected to the position of medical officer of the Omagh medical district a Dr. M'Cartan, who is at present interned in England as a man dangerous to the peace and security of the community in Ireland, and at the same time refused to appoint a Dr. A. H. R. Duncan, a resident practitioner of Omagh, who is a Unionist, and served for two years with the forces in France, where he was wounded in the left eye; and if he will take steps to see that Dr. Duncan is appointed to look after the necessitous poor of the dispensary district?

I believe the facts are as stated in the first part of the question, but I have not yet received a report as regards the second part.

asked the Financial Secretary to the War Office whether he is aware that the provision in the workmen's compensation scheme applicable to War Office employés that the total income of a man in receipt of workmen's compensation shall not exceed his average earnings prior to the injury, the amount of compensation being reduced accordingly, is operating harshly in many cases at the present time; and whether he will consider the possibility of suspending the operation of this provision during the War?

The scheme relates not to the War Office alone but to all Government Departments. No alteration could be made without an Amending Act, and I am afraid I am not in a position to promise legislation on the subject.

asked the Pensions Minister why May Jones, of Glanhaffer, Llangyview, Montgomeryshire, has not received the full sum of 12s. 6d. weekly separation allowance approved by the local pensions committee, in respect of her brother, No. 43154, John Jones, late of the Cheshire Regiment, now of the Army Service Corps, from 1st August, notwithstanding that the Montgomeryshire War Pensions Committee has been in communication with the regimental paymasters on the subject since November last?

My attention has already been drawn to this case, and payment at 12s. 6d. per week from 21st March, 1917, has been issued. The question of arrears is being actively pursued, and I will communicate further with my hon. and gallant Friend as soon as the matter is settled.