asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware that Income Tax has been claimed by the authorities from captains in respect of awards made to them for meritorious services in beating off or -escaping from enemy submarines; and, seeing that the action of the authorities in treating men who have rendered signal services to the country in this manner is not calculated to assist in the common effort to overcome the submarine menace, whether he will reconsider the charge for Income Tax in respect of such award?

All additional payments made by an employer to his employé in connection with his employment are chargeable to Income Tax, whatever the nature of the employment or the character of the particular services which prompted the payments. I would remind my hon. Friend that under the recent Finance Act the specially reduced rates of Income Tax applicable to the Service pay of soldiers and sailors have been extended to the members of the mercantile marine.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury what is the proportion of direct to indirect taxation levied in Ireland and Great Britain for the years 1916 and 1917, respectively?

The proportion of direct to indirect taxation in Great Britain and Ireland for the year 1916–17 was:

The figures for 1917–18 are not available.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether, as the result of his inquiries, a further distribution of sugar for domestic jam purposes will be made among the applicants whose applications have been overlooked?

I must refer the hon. Member to my statement on this subject on Friday last. I may, however, add that the reasons which make it impossible to allot further supplies for sugar for domestic preserving are, first, the strict limit on the total quantity of sugar which can be imported owing to urgent demands on all available tonnage, and, second, the necessity of making allowance for possible losses due to enemy action. While fully recognising the importance of domestic preserving of fruit, the Food Controller does not feel justified in further depleting the available stocks for this purpose.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether he has seen a resolution passed by the Wexford County Council with reference to the prices fixed for fat cattle, namely, 74s. in September, 72s. in October and November, 67s. in December, and 60s. in January, and pointing out that these prices will injuriously affect the tillage farmers of Ireland; is he aware that the cost of feeding cattle up to December is much less than during the winter and spring months following, that it increases as spring advances, that stall-feeders pay as high prices for their cattle as graziers, and that they are consequently entitled to at least as high prices; and whether, seeing that the efforts of the tillage farmer have chiefly stood between the country and privation, and that mixed farming is I the best method of producing milk, meat, and cereals, and saving the land from deterioration, he will reconsider his decision with a view to doing justice to the tillage farmer?

The Food Controller has received a communication from the hon. Member for North Wexford on this subject. He is aware of the difficulties caused to farmers by the high prices of feeding stuffs, and, as I have already stated, he is taking steps which will, he hopes, have the effect of mitigating the grievance to which the hon. Member refers. He appreciates the efforts of the tillage farmers of Ireland in regard to food production, but all the points referred to were taken into consideration in fixing the prices of cattle.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food if he can state the amount of yeast permitted by the Food Controller to be used per 280-lb. sack of flour for baking purposes?

No Order has been issued regulating the amount of yeast to be used for baking purposes. The matter is left to the discretion of bakers.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food if he can state the amount of malt which it is estimated is required to reproduce a standard barrel of beer at the lower as well as at the higher standard of gravity now sanctioned, and the amount of sugar and other ingredients used per barrel produced?

For purposes of Excise a standard barrel of beer represents 36 gallons of beer brewed at an original gravity of 1,050 degrees. The quantity of malt required to brew a standard barrel of beer is, approximately, 80 lbs. If sugar, maize, rice, or similar ingredients are used by way of substitution for malt, the quantity will be proportionately less. If the same quantity of beer is brewed at any other gravity either above or below the standard the quantity of malt or substitutes for malt required would vary accordingly.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether, for purposes of comparison, he can state the retail prices per pound of beef, mutton, fish, bread, and other staple articles of food in New York and London, respectively, on 31st July last, or such other recent date on which he has the necessary information?

supplied the following particulars:

The above figures are set side by side irrespective of quality, for which no allowance can be made. No prices are quoted for mutton or fish (except tinned salmon) in the American figures.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the Commissioners on the Rate of Interest on Landed Securities in Scotland have met and decided that the rate of interest on such first-class securities should from and after Martinmas, 11th November, continue to be at the rate of 5 per cent.; whether this or A similar rule will apply to Ireland; and, if not, will he state the reason?

My right hon. Friend has asked me to reply. I am informed that there is in Scotland a committee for fixing rates on heritable securities. It is a purely voluntary body consisting of representatives of solicitors, who in Scotland act for both borrowers and lenders and thus fix the rate of interest. The committee has no official status. There is no similar body in Ireland, where the conditions are different.

asked the Secretary to the Admiralty whether, in view of the existing shortage of permanent accountant officers, Royal Navy, and the deserving status of the men who would be selected, the establishment of warrant writers can be made up to the number extant prior to April, 1917, namely, forty-seven?

I would refer my hon. and gallant Friend to the answer given by me on Wednesday last to a question on this subject by my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Chatham.

asked the Financial Secretary to the War Office whether the War Office has entered upon land held on lease in Midlothian; whether in one instance, when the next half-year's rent fell due, the War Office representative authorised the lessee to pay the rent to the landlord but have not reimbused the lessee though nine months have elapsed since he paid the rent for land occupied by the War Office; and what rate of interest the War Office propose paying the lessee for the money due to him?

The particulars, given are not sufficient for the case to be identified. If my hon. and gallant Friend will give me further details, I will have inquiry made.

asked the Undersecretary of State for War whether he is aware that ten deaths have been officially admitted in the South African Parliament as due to the effects of anti-typhoid inoculation among the troops; and whether this proof of the danger of this system of preventive medicine will induce him to discourage its use among the soldiers in this country and in France?

The unfortunate incident to which my hon. Friend refers is reported as being due to the use of untested vaccine, which was found to be contaminated. This vaccine was made in South Africa by the South African Institute of Medical Research, and not by the Army Medical College. The War Office has offered to supply all future requirements of anti-typhoid vaccine for use in South Africa.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether General Officers Commanding Divisions at Home are now being deprived of their commands to make room for tired Generals commanding divisions abroad who are said to require a rest; and, if so, whether the Army Council will consider the desirability of giving employment abroad to the General Officers thus displaced at Home in place of those coming Home for a rest?

The answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative; as regards the second part, those General Officers who are considered fit for such employment will not be lost sight of.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether he will be in a position to make any statement before the Adjournment as to the intentions of the Army Council with respect to the trial by court-martial of the officers blamed in the Report of the Commission on Mesopotamia?

The hon. Member must not assume that proceedings in these cases will be by court-martial. As I informed the House in reply to a question put by him on the 1st August, the officers concerned have been called upon to submit their written explanations, and the Council will have to consider these before deciding what further action is to be taken in each case. In view of the complicated nature of the matters in respect of which the statements were made in the Commission's Report, I can hold out no hope that decisions will be reached before the Adjournment.

asked the Minister of Munitions if he can state the number of canteens in munition works or in docks, established under the auspices of the Central Control Board (Liquor Traffic), which are being run as temperance or dry canteens, and the number in which intoxicants are supplied?

The total number of canteens in munition works and docks in operation or approaching completion is about 700. Of these, according to the information in the possession of the Central Control Board, not more than twenty have been registered as clubs for the supply of intoxicating liquor; in twenty-five other cases certificates have been issued by the Board for the sale of beer containing not more than 2 per cent. of proof spirit. In all the other canteens food and non-intoxicating beverages only are supplied.

asked the Minister of Munitions if he can state the number of licensed premises in Longtown in which the sale of spirits has been entirely stopped; whether the results obtained through this prohibition have been satisfactory; and whether it is intended to extend this provision to the Carlisle and other adjoining munition areas?

The board suspended the sale of spirits in all the licensed premises in Longtown in December last. The results of this measure have been quite satisfactory from the point of view of the special temporary local conditions which it was designed to meet, but it is not proposed to extend it over the city of Carlisle.

asked the Minister of Munitions if the accounts of the Liquor Control Board relating to the Gretna township, as distinguished from the to the Gretna-within-the-township district have been published; if so, on what date these accounts were published; and whether they will be available to Members in the Vote Office?

The accounts relating to the Gretna-within-the-township district have not yet been published.

asked the Minister of Munitions whether he has considered the various statements and recommendations in the Commission's Reports on industrial unrest, especially the statement on page 6 of Cd. 8666, that the munitions tribunals are peculiarly obnoxious and that prosecutions are brought against munition workers on frivolous or insufficient grounds; and what action he proposes to take?

As I have already stated, the whole subject of the amendment of the Munitions Act is now under the consideration of my right hon. Friend.

asked the Home Secretary whether he is aware that William Schmahl, a naturalised German passing under the name of William Small, is actively motoring about the country and in particular the South Coast and in prohibited areas; and have any steps been taken to note the activities of this person and to keep the authorities informed of his doings, especially in view of the fact that letters of naturalisation are no guarantee that Germans by birth are to be relied on for loyalty to this country during the War?

I would refer the hon. and learned Member to my predecessor's reply to his question on the 25th July, 1916. The person mentioned is a British subject by naturalisation, and I am informed that he is visiting Bournemouth with his wife and three British-born children. The inquiries which have been made show no reason for suspecting his loyalty.

asked the Home Secretary whether, in view of the apprehension and disturbance occasioned to patients in civil hospitals in London by the rocket warnings of impending air raids, he will direct the police to continue the private warnings hitherto given, and which it is understood are still given in the case of military hospitals, in order that, prior to the public warnings, the members of the staff may forthwith be in a position to reassure and convey to greater safety the inmates of such institutions?

The preliminary warning referred to is distributed by the telephone authorities to a large number of hospitals where preparations have to be made for receiving casualties if an air-raid should take place. It is not proposed to discontinue these warnings, but I am informed that the other hospitals in London which have no such preparations to make are so numerous that to add them all to the warning list would be likely to impair the rapid and efficient working of the warning arrangements.

asked the President of the Local Government Board why it is necessary to have three tribunals sitting at Dunstable, a place of 8,000 inhabitants, and only one tribunal sitting at Luton, a place with 50,000 inhabitants; whether he is aware that the greater the number of tribunals in a single area the greater is the risk of conflict in the decisions given; and whether, in view of this fact and the further drawback that different tribunals regard different work as work of national importance, he will endeavour, as far as possible, to limit the number of tribunals in a given area?

I understand that the local tribunal for Dunstable sits in three committees. This plan was, no doubt, adopted for dealing expeditiously with cases where the number of cases to be heard was large. I will inquire whether the three committees are still necessary. I am informed that there does not appear to be lack of uniformity between the committees. As the hon. Member will appreciate, the unrestricted right of appeal to the Appeal Tribunal affords considerable-safeguard against want of uniformity.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he can state the number of petrol licences which have been issued by the Petrol Committee which are still current, indicating the different categories under which such licences are issued and the number issued in. each category?

The categories under which motor spirit licences are issued for civil purposes and the percentages issued under each category are as follows:

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he can state the output of petrol from the Scottish shale fields during the years 1914, 1915, and 1916, respectively?

It would not be in the public interest to give the information asked for.

asked the President of the Local Government Board if his Department has made inquiry into the application of Edward W. Sawyer, of White House Farm, Halstead, Essex, for an old age pension; whether the pension has been denied upon the ground that the applicant enjoys an income by way of allowance from a relative; and whether there is any proof that such allowance has been made by any relative, and if he can state what proof, if any?

The disallowance of the claim was not based on the ground that the applicant was in receipt of an allowance from a relative, as suggested in the question, but because the claimant had in the first instance concealed property, and that the later statements as to the property afterwards disclosed were so unsatisfactory that they could not be accepted. I am, however, inquiring further into the ease and will communicate with my hon. Friend.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland if he is aware that the system of clock-pegging is stall kept up in Londonderry Prison during certain hours of the day as well as night; and whether the time employed on such practice will be diverted to some other purpose?

I would refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to his question on the subject last Friday.