asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what action has been taken by the Government with respect to each of the recommendations in the Third Report of the Select Committee on National Expenditure for the Session of 1917 and in the First and Second Reports of the Committee for the Session of 1918, and with respect to the recommendations in paragraph 17 of the First Report of 1917, repeated in paragraph 34 of the Second Report of 1917, and in paragraphs 38, 44, 57, 62, 64, 65, and 80 in the Second Report of 1917; if he will state what progress has been made by the Committees appointed in pursuance of the recommendations in paragraphs 15 (3) and 33 (2) of that Report; and what appointments, if any, have been made in pursuance of the recommendation in paragraph 15 (1)?

submitted the following:

asked the Prime Minister whether, in view of the fact that the possible conscription of women is having an unsettled effect on business houses, which now are mainly dependent on female labour, he will state whether the Government propose to introduce or support any measure dealing with this question?

The Government have no present intention of introducing legislation on this subject.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury if he will state what is the nature of the Stationery Office inspectorate staff, of which Major Stenson Cooke is the head; how long it has been in existence; of how many persons it is composed; what are the salaries of the other members; whether they are established Civil servants and, if so, what is their rank; how it is proposed to recruit any further additions to the inspectorate staff; whether no established Civil servant in His Majesty's Stationery Office could be found competent to undertake the duties of head of the inspectorate staff —e.g., a staff officer on a salary scale of £300 to £400 who has seen active service and been discharged from the Army; if not, whether any attempt was made to obtain a qualified established Civil servant for the post by transfer from any other Government Department; whether the work performed by Major Stenson Cooke at the present time is for the most part the keeping of a card index of typewriters, comptometers, dictaphones, etc., in use in Government Departments; whether, concurrently with these duties at the Stationery Office, he is still carrying on his duties as secretary to the Automobile Association; whether his appointment in the Stationery Office is of a purely temporary nature; what are his special qualifications for the post; whether, in view of the fact that his medical classification has not been ascertained, he might be in a position to perform work of greater national importance in a military capacity; and whether the Treasury will refrain from sanctioning any further appointments of Army officers to posts in the Civil Service in similar circumstances?

The Stationery Office inspectorate staff, of which Major Stenson Cooke is the head, came into being on the 1st February, 1918, and consists of Major Stenson Cooke, who receives £600 per annum, a higher grade temporary male clerk £200 per annum, and a shorthand writer-typist, four lady clerks, and a messenger at the usual Civil Service rates of pay. The whole of the staff consists of temporary Civil servants, none of them being established. There is no proposal at present to recruit any further additions to the inspectorate staff. No established Civil servant in His Majesty's Stationery Office competent to undertake the duties of the head of the inspectorate staff could be spared from his present duties for this work. No attempt was made to obtain a qualified established Civil servant for the post by transfer from any other Government Department, as the Treasury authority under which the Stationery Office inspectorate was created laid down that it should be created on a temporary basis. Major Stenson Cooke does not himself keep a card index of typewriters, comptometers, dictaphones, etc., in use in Government Departments, this work being done by his staff; he gives his whole day to his duties at the Stationery Office. His appointment in the Stationery Office is of a purely temporary nature. His special qualifications for the post are his organising ability, tact,. energy, and sound common sense. His present duties are very important, and it is doubtful whether he might be in a. position to perform work of greater national importance in a military capacity. Major Stenson Cooke was not appointed from the Army to his present post in the Stationery Office; he was transferred from a Civil post in the Ministry of National Service.

asked the Minister of National Service if he will make inquiries into the reasons why the Portsmouth United Breweries, Limited, have secured exemption for their foreman brewer, Mr. L. H. Martin, who is thirty-seven years old, and Class A, whilst the company reduced the staff, including a competent substitute over military age?

Inquiries are being made into this case, and I will inform the hon. Member of the result.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War (1) if he is aware that an officer of the Regular Army was appointed to command a new Army ambulance in the 38th Division, First Army, although the name of an officer already serving in a field ambulance of the same (38th) Division was submitted from the Division to the corps and approved by the corps; and will he say why the officer recommended was not appointed; and (2) if he is aware that three officers of the Special Reserve were appointed recently to be commanding officers of Territorial field ambulances in the 57th Division, First Army; and will he say why Territorial Force officers were not appointed to command these Territorial field ambulances?

The appointment of officers to command units in France is entirely a matter for the Field-Marshal Commanding-in-Chief, and nothing is known in the War Office of the particular appointments referred to.

asked the Financial Secretary to the War Office whether the proposals for training disabled soldiers in the making of uniforms under the direct employment of the Department have been, or are to be, adopted; and, if so, whether he can make any statement on the matter?

Owing to the retirement of Lord Rothermere from the Royal Army Clothing Department in December last, this matter has been in abeyance. The present Director-General will be glad to consult with my right hon. Friend as to the possibility of giving effect to his suggestion.

asked the Secrecial Secretary to the War Office whether an officer who is promoted to substantive rank while holding similar temporary or acting rank from an earlier date will be permitted to reckon the period during which his rank was temporary or acting for the purpose of determining his retired or half pay or pension?

Half-pay does not depend on time in the rank, except in the special case of a lieutenant-colonel who has completed his time in the substantive rank. Retired pay for service as distinct from disability always depends on substantive rank, though up to major, inclusive, the rates go by total service.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether it is his intention to re-introduce the Patents and Designs Bill, 1917, during the current Session; and whether it will provide for an extension of the life of patents the working of which has been prevented during the War.

Notice of Motion to introduce the Bill has already been given. The Bill will contain Clauses dealing with the matter referred to in the second part of the question.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether German coinage bearing the Kaiser's head or German arms is still the ordinary currency in what was formerly German East Africa; whether he is aware that the failure to either substitute British currency or to superscribe the German coins with British marks has been detrimental to British prestige; and whether he proposes to take any steps in the matter?

The answer to the first question is in the affirmative, and to the second and third in the negative.