asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether the price of butter charged by the Government to importers and wholesalers is 252s. per cwt. less the importer's commission at 2 per cent, and the wholesaler's commission of 4 or 4½ per cent.; if he is aware that this butter cost the Government last April about 182s. and 186s. plus cold storage, which would bring the price to about 190s. to-day; if he can give reasons why the Government should make a profit of nearly 20 per cent.; if he is aware that this butter includes Danish and Dutch, for which they are paying considerably more; if he is aware that the quantity imported is infinitesimal; why the Government fix the price at 252s. all round, as the great bulk of the butter, namely, Australian and New Zealand, was bought by the Government from 182s. to 186s.; and if he will take action in the matter?

The figure given for the price to the importer is correct, but the other figures of cost apply only to a portion of the butter and do not include all the expenses involved. The price to the importer is an average price, fixed so as to secure butter at a definite price to the consumer over a reasonable period without any profit or loss to the Government and without the possibility of speculative profits by distributors. Since it is an average price, it follows that some butter costs more than the price at which it is sold and some costs less. In the opinion of the Food controller it would be most undesirable to return to a system under which the price to the consumer was in practice mainly determined by the price of the dearest butter in the market, which, of course, would be very much more than the average price.

asked whether a higher price is now being paid in Ireland than in Scotland for cattle; and, if so, whether and when it is proposed to put both markets on an equality?

The answer to the first part of the question is in the negative; the second part, therefore, does not arise.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he is aware that Michael Farrell, a wounded discharged soldier from the Army, applied recently to the Wexford Rural District Council for the tenancy of a cottage in Ballydicken, where he had been born and reared and in which his father had just died, and that his application was refused, and if he will say on what grounds this refusal was made; whether he is aware that these labourers' cottages have been built by money advanced by Imperial Parliament at special rates of interest; and whether the Irish Government will use every effort to see that agricultural labourers who have served in the Imperial Forces are not debarred from their chance of obtaining such cottages because of their military service?

The selection of tenants for labourers cottages is vested by law in the rural district council, and I am informed that Michael Farrell's application to the Wexford Rural District Council for a labourer's cottage at Ballydicken, formerly occupied by his father, was not entertained on the ground that he was ineligible for a cottage in the rural district owing to his being resident in the town of Wexford, and therefore not possessing the qualification of an agricultural labourer. His father it is stated left the cottage of his own accord to reside in Wexford.

asked the Secretary to the Admiralty whether the recent Order granting certain concessions to men in the Navy only applies to those cases in which the dependants are in receipt of separation allowance; whether he is aware that many men are allotting sums of 5s. a week to their dependants, and that the Government have refused to pay separation allowance, and that, therefore, all these dependants are ruled out from participating in the new concessions; whether he is aware that this is causing dissatisfaction; And what action he proposes to take in the matter?

It is true that the recent Order in regard to the allotment concession extends only to those cases in which the dependant is in receipt of Navy separation allowance. My right hon. Friend the Minister of Pensions is arranging for similar concessions in relief of allotment, to be made by the Special Grants Committee of the Ministry, in those cases in which, owing to the dependence having arisen since the outbreak of the War or the date of the sailor's entry, if later, a Navy separation allowance is payable.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty if he is aware that J. F. Fryer, after serving for twenty-one years in the Royal Marines, left the Service in May, 1911, was called up again on the outbreak of war in August, 1914, and served for two years and 260 days at the Royal Marine Depot at Deal, being invalided out of the Service on the 25th April, 1917, with disease of the heart, which disables him from following any employment; whether he is aware that Fryer's present allowance of 27s. per week is liable to be reduced to 8s. 2d. per week in August, 1918; if he will say why a sum of 30s. has been stopped out of Fryer's allowance on the ground that he had been overpaid to that extent while serving at the depot; and why this man, after serving for upwards of twenty-three years, has not received a long-service pension?

Fryer has been in receipt of a long-service pension from the date of his discharge in 1911. He was called up for service as a pensioner in August, 1914, and was invalided in April, 1917, for aortic aneurism, which was certified as constitutional, and not due to or aggravated by his service. In these circumstances he was ineligible for the grant of a disablement pension, but his service pension was increased in respect of his mobilised service to 8s. 2d. a week for life, and he was awarded a gratuity of £50 in respect of his invaliding. The deduction of 30s. referred to was due to an error in calculating the arrears due on account of the increase for mobilised service, by which the amount in question was overpaid. Fryer has appealed to the Special Pensions Appeal Tribunal against the decision regarding the non-attributability of his disability, and this appeal is now under consideration. Nothing is known regarding the "allowance of 27s." a week which Fryer is stated to be receiving, but it is presumably weekly instalments of £l in which his gratuity is being paid, together with his pension.

asked the Financial Secretary to the War Office whether, where the wife of a soldier has been separated from her husband prior to enlistment and a maintenance order has been granted, she is not entitled to separation allowance, the children only being allowed allowance as motherless children; whether this is due to the fact that the soldier refuses to make the necessary allotment; whether he is aware that in these circumstances the wife has no redress, although, if the husband were not in the Army, the maintenance order could be enforced; and whether, in the altered arrangements with regard to soldiers' allotments, he will consider the possibility of allowing separation allowances to these women who are legally entitled to maintenance?

If a soldier, before he was enlisted, was making payment for his wife's maintenance under an order of Court, the payment is continued, the man contributing the amount prescribed by the Army Act. The regulated allowances are also issued for the children. If there was an order of Court, and the man was not complying with it, he is put under the stoppage prescribed by the Army Act, and the amount handed over to the wife, together with allowances for the children (if any) at the motherless rate. The family thus benefits greatly by the man's enlistment. The stoppages made under the Army Act in these cases are not allotments, and the recent changes do not affect them.

asked the Financial Secretary to the War Office (1) what are the conditions as regards separation allowances to dependants of soldiers who previous to joining the Army were not in regular employment but moved from one employer to another; and, if it can be proved that in spite of not being in regular employment they contributed towards the maintenance of their dependants, will separation allowances be granted; and (2) what are the instructions to pensions officers as regards granting separation allowances to dependants of soldiers in cases where, owing to death or other causes, particulars cannot be obtained from the employer as to the conditions of employment of a man before he joined the Army?

The dependants' allowance is based on what the soldier actually contributed to the support of the dependant. The grant does not depend on regular employment or on obtaining a statement of particulars from the employer, though the latter may be useful as evidence.

asked whether there are any soldiers at present in hospital in this country or in France whose identity is unknown owing to shell-shock or other cause?

I understand that there are no such cases in this country, and in France there are extremely few. Identification is almost invariably effected by the identity disc, regimental badge, or some personal object in the possession of the soldier.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether, in the case of a man who has been transferred to Class W and found work of national importance, his employer has the power to have him sent back into the Army in the event of any disagreement arising, or whether the man would have the opportunity of being transferred to other work?

My hon. Friend has asked me to reply. The principle upon which such cases are dealt with is similar to that which obtains in cases where conditional exemption on occupational grounds is granted. Men transferred to Class W, in order to undertake work of national importance, must have agreed to the conditions of their transfer, which is only sanctioned after full consideration has been given to the question whether such services as they can render would be more usefully employed in some specified civil work of national importance or in the Army. If the specified employment terminate for any reason, the same principle is again applied in deciding whether the man's services could be used to better advantage in the Army or in further work of national importance. Men temporarily surplus to Army requirements transferred to Class W of the Reserve are in a different position. Their cases do not come up for consideration until the services of men of their category of fitness or trade qualification are required in the Army, when they are dealt with in a manner similar to that already indicated. In no case has an employer the power to send a man back into the Army.

asked the Home Secretary whether the recent concessions granted to conscientious objectors undergoing sentences of hard labour are to be taken as applying to men serving sentences of penal servitude?

No, Sir. The prison rule in question does not apply to persons serving sentences of penal servitude.

asked the Financial Secretary to the War Office whether all soldiers of two years' service are entitled to 1s. 6d. per day?

Broadly speaking, the position as regards pay is as described. There are, however, some exceptions which are mentioned in the recent Royal Warrant and the Army Council Instruction which accompanied it.

asked the Minister of Munitions if he is aware that there is a number of highly skilled workmen employed in various departments at Woolwich Arsenal who are graded as pipe fitters, but who are really steam, hydraulic, and hot-water fitters, and whitesmiths; that these men did not participate in the 12½ per per cent. increase in wages at the time it was granted to the skilled workmen; and whether he will inquire into this matter with the object of grading these men as skilled workmen?

As the hon. Member is aware, the Skilled Timeworkers' Order of 13th October applied only to the engineering and foundry trades. The pipe fitters in question were not regarded as engineers within the meaning of the Order. Their case, along with that of other workmen at Woolwich Arsenal, is under consideration in connection with the War Cabinet's decision to extend the 12½ per cent. bonus to certain timeworkers to whom the Order of 13th October was not applied, and any payments due to them will have effect from the same date.

asked the Minister of Munitions whether his attention has been called to the use made by his Department of the telephone service between London and Glasgow; is he aware that constant inquiries are made as to output returns to which an immediate telephonic reply cannot be given, as in each case the figures have to be got out before the reply is sent; that postcards would be more suitable vehicles for making such inquiries; that the use of trunk telephones on such matters precludes the traders of the country from getting the use of these lines for more important commercial deals necessary for the trade and manufacture of the country; and whether he will take action in the matter?

From the record kept of the telephone calls by the output returns section of the Ministry, it appears that not more than four calls to Glasgow were made during the month of November. The officers of the Ministry are instructed that long distance trunk calls should not be made except on matter of urgency and importance.

asked the Minister of Munitions whether he can now state the result of his inquiries into the complaint that at the Imperial Bolt Works, Hamilton, the girls employed were not being paid in accordance with the Statutory Orders made by his Department?

The Statutory Orders were applied to this firm with effect from the first full pay-day after 19th November. I understand that the appropriate rates are now being paid to all women and girls in the establishment.

asked the Secretary to the Board of Trade whether his attention has been drawn to the gallantry of Quartermaster Hugh Wilson and Engineer J. W. Pascoe, who at the time of the "Mendi" disaster risked their own lives by jumping into the sea in order to make more room in the lifeboats for the Africans struggling in the water; whether he is aware that the president of the inquiry recommended that steps should be taken suitably to recognise what these and other members of the crew had done; what has been done to recognise the self-sacrificing gallantry of these two men, Pascoe and Wilson?

Yes, Sir; my attention has been called to the gallantry displayed by Quartermaster Hugh Wilson and Engineer J. W. Pascoe, and, in accordance with their usual practice in such cases, the Board of Trade have, through the owners of the "Mendi," conveyed to them and to the other member of the crew mentioned by the Court of inquiry an expression of their high appreciation of the services they rendered. I should like to take the opportunity of expressing my personal appreciation of the gallantry displayed on the occasion in question.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that no representative of the Scottish tramway system resident in Scotland has been appointed on the National Tramway Committee; and will he arrange for the appointment of such representative familiar with the working conditions of the tramway undertakings in Scotland?

This matter is under consideration, and the Board of Trade have arranged to receive a deputation on the subject.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he is aware that two shiploads of mistletoe were unloaded on Saturday, 8th December, at Poole Harbour, with railway trucks alongside; that these trucks, still loaded with the same commodity, were in sidings at Southampton on Monday, 10th December; and whether these ships and trucks could be better employed?

I am not aware of the circumstances mentioned, but I am making inquiries.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether, in the new schemes prepared in connection with the allocation of Ireland's portion of the equivalent Grant for national education, it is proposed to provide that untrained assistant teachers appointed before 1900, and now at the maximum of third grade, shall be eligible for promotion to the next higher grade if their services are reported on as satisfactory, to award increments of good service salary to untrained assistant teachers appointed to the service since 1905, and to make any alteration in the existing rules which govern the awards of increments of good service salary and pro- motion in the case of untrained principal teachers whose work is reported on as efficient or highly efficient?

Untrained assistant teachers who ranked in the second class under the rules in force before 1900 will be eligible for promotion under the same conditions as are required for trained assistant teachers. Those who ranked in the third class will not be eligible for promotion except in cases of very long service. It is not proposed to make any alteration in the Regulations affecting the eligibility of untrained principal teachers, or, in the case of untrained assistant teachers appointed to the service since 1905, for awards of increments and promotion.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland if he will state the reason why an old age pension was refused to Michael M'Kenna, Aughnacloy, county Tyrone; if he is aware that this man was entitled to the pension, but that the decision was reversed by the Local Government Board on appeal; what is the rule laid down with regard to proof of age; if he is aware that no trace can be found on any register of the applicant's birth or baptism and that, in the absence of this proof, he had produced the testimony of two respectable residents of the locality as to his age; and if he will take steps to see that an old age pension was granted to this man?

The claim was disallowed on the ground that the claimant failed to show that he was seventy years of age. The onus of proof rests with the claimant. He submitted the testimony of two persons who knew him, but their testimony only amounted to a statement of belief that the claimant was seventy years of age.