asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he is aware that a confidential instruction, No. 46, has been issued to surveyors of taxes dealing with inequities arising out of the application of Section 45, Sub-section (2), of the Finance Act, 1916, and Section 20, Subsection (2), of the Finance Act, 1917, taken in conjunction with Section 38, Sub-section (3), of the Finance (No. 2) Act, 1915, to the effect that where firms object to pay Excess Profits Duty under the Sections referred to owing to the anomalies of their application where deficiencies occur, the demand for payment of Excess Profits Duty must not be pressed; why the same treatment is not dispensed to firms who do not protest through misunderstanding the position; and, as it is understood that in the confidenial circular, No. 46, it is stated that legislation is in contemplation to rectify the injustice arising from the operation of the Sections referred to, will he indicate, when and in what form such contemplated legislation will be introduced?

It is only in connection with the assessment for the final accounting period that the occasion can arise for considering any special treatment of cases in which variations made from time to time in the rate of Excess Profits Duty lead to a net charge of duty, although the profits arising during the whole lifetime of the tax may not, when viewed in the aggregate, exceed the margin of liability. In the interim, in cases which for the moment present similar features, the Commissioners of Inland Revenue are ready on application to defer the collection of the charge.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether any decision has been reached with regard to the release of sheeps' paunches, bullocks' lights, etc., for feeding dogs; and, if so, what decision has been arrived at and when it will be operative?

Sheeps' paunches and bullocks' lights are released from coupon restrictions on 11th May. So far as these offals are not ordinarily used for human food, there is no reason why they should not be fed to dogs.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether he is aware that many people who are desirous of following the recommendations emanating from his Department that potato flour should be extensively used in the making of bread are unable to do so for want of information as to practicable means of acquiring or producing potato flour in adequate quantity; whether he is aware that the use of potatoes for bread making in forms other than potato flour has not been so satisfactory as the results promised from the use of potato flour; and whether he will take steps to make more widely known the sources from which it can be acquired and the methods by which it can be produced in the form most suitable for bread making?

No recommendations have been issued to the precise effect indicated in the first part of the question, although bakers have been continually urged to mix a substantial proportion of potato mash with the dough in making bread. My Department has, however, been engaged for some months on a practical scheme for the manufacture of potato flour on a large scale in the various potato districts of the United Kingdom, and a considerable part of the necessary machinery has been completed. An announcement will be made shortly as to the terms on which potato flour plants can be supplied to persons of firms who are willing to engage in this new industry. The use of potato mash has given excellent results, and will be continued and developed next season, notwithstanding the provision made for the manufacture of potato flour, which will not in any event be available for direct supply to the baker.

asked the President of the Board of Agriculture, as farmers against their own better knowledge were compelled by Order to sow this spring the recently ploughed up old grassland, and have incurred considerable loss by the complete failure of the crop, whether it is the intention of the Government to grant them any compensaion?

The grant of compensation for any loss incurred by reason of the exercise of the powers under the Defence of the Realm Regulations compelling fanners to break up grassland is a matter for the Defence of the Realm (Losses) Commission. No decision has yet been given by the Commission on a claim of the kind, but with the object of securing that the land on which a crop has failed should not remain unproductive, the Board have authorised the agricultural executive committees in suitable cases to defray the cost of the seed for an alternative crop.

asked the Secretary to the Admiralty if his attention has been directed to the case of a master mariner imprisoned in Germany who is given to understand that the Government do not recognise the services of the mercantile marine; and if he can possibly make the position clear?

My right hon. Friend has asked me to answer this question. The proposal made in the case referred to by the hon. Member is in effect that the Government should pay in full the wages of all officers of the mercantile marine interned in Germany. At present allowances on a pension scale are paid to the dependants in this country, and the expense of special treatment in officer camps in Germany is guaranteed. I do not think that in these circumstances it can be fairly suggested that the services of the mercantile marine are not recognised by His Majesty's Government.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether the sentences passed by a court-martial at Clausthal in March last on Lieutenant T. P. Molloy, of the Dorset Regiment and the Royal Air Force, together with ten other officers, all prisoners of war at Clausthal, are in accordance with the agreements in regard to the treatment of prisoners of war recently arranged at The Hague; and, if not, what steps he proposes to take to ensure that these prisoners are treated in accordance with the agreement referred to?

In the opinion of His Majesty's Government, the sentences of seven months' imprisonment passed by the German authorities on these officers for an action which was incidental to an attempt to escape is in direct contravention of paragraph 16 of the Hague Agreement. The Netherland Minister at Berlin has been requested to take every action possible to secure a reduction of the sentences and to inform the German Government that His Majesty's Government will be forced to interpret this paragraph in a manner similar to that in which it has been interpreted by the German authorities in this case, unless the latter give an assurance that such breaches of the agreement shall not recur.

asked the Under-Secretary of State to the Air Ministry whether his attention has been called to the statements in the Report of the Select Committee on Expenditure regarding the aviation park at Loch Doon; whether these statements are correct; whether he can state the names of the persons responsible for the inauguration and completion of this scheme; and what disciplinary action has been taken in the matter?

I am familiar with the Report to which my hon. Friend refers and am not in a position to add anything to the account which it contains of the inception and progress of the work at Loch Doon or as to the persons responsible. The answer to the last part of the question is that the matter is not one in which any disciplinary action on the part of the Air Council is considered to be required.

asked the Minister of National Service whether, in view of the concession granted to those discharged men who have received their wages or other allowances from their former employers of returning to their employment on the footing that their work should be considered of national importance, he will consider the advisability of extending the concession to discharged men who were in business on their own account before they enlisted and who commence business on their own account on returning to civil life?

My right hon. Friend is happy to state that it has been possible to extend the concession to discharged soldiers and sailors referred to by my hon. and gallant Friend to meet the case of a man who was engaged in a one-man business before he enlisted and who returned and resumed the business which it has been possible to maintain for him during his absence.

asked the Pensions Minister whether, in view of the hardships involved by the official refusal to grant the bounty of £ 5 to widows of soldiers who died prior to 1st July, 1916, in the same way that it is given to the widows of those men who died after that date, he will reconsider the whole question with this end in view, that all widows will receive this bounty irrespective of their financial position or the date of the death of their husbands?

As explained to the hon. and gallant Member in the reply given to his question of 15th May, widows whose husbands were killed before the 1st July, 1916, were given the gratuity of £5 by the Royal Patriotic Fund Corporation. It is true that the grant was not universal, but there were few who did not obtain it and of those few probably none who were in need. In these circumstances I cannot admit that any hardship is involved in the course adopted by the Ministry or that this question needs to be reconsidered.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that, although Swansea has always been the Bristol Channel port of shipment to France, traffic for which the French Munitions Commission is responsible is now being diverted to Newport, which is about fifty miles distant from the district of manufacture; that from Swansea and district is supplied over 85 per cent. of the material to the French Government, which is borne out by the fact that of the recent allocation of 7,000 tons of steel sheets only 400 tons are being made at works more conveniently situated to Newport for purposes of shipment; that Swansea possesses all facilities for shipment, and that 46 per cent. of the steel sheets are conveyed to the port by motor lorries; and whether, in order to economise time, labour, and money, and avoid congestion on the railways, he will make representations to the British delegates on the Commission Internationale de Ravitaillement with a view to securing that the ordinary shipping traffic for Swansea shall not be diverted to Newport?

As regards those contracts placed in the Bristol Channel districts for which the French Government undertake shipment, I am informed that the present position is that approximately 4,000 tons per month are expected for delivery over the next six months from works in the neighbourhood of Newport, whereas the total quantity to be delivered in the Swansea district over the same period is about 1,000 tons per month.In these circumstances it is necessary, in order to ensure the early arrival of the goods in France, that shipment should be made from the port where the bulk of the tonnage is required.I am further informed that the railway is used in every case for the transport of these goods to Newport, at which place the trucks when empty are utilised for the conveyance of incoming traffic. There is no desire to favour Newport at the expense of Swansea in this respect, and, in the event of further French Government contracts being placed in the Swansea district, shipment would be made from that port in the absence of any strong reasons to the contrary.The recent allocation of 7,000 tons to which the hon. Member refers is understood to be composed of tinplates and not of steel sheets. Shipment of these goods is not made by the French Government, the allocation being to the Comité des Forges, which is a semi-official body composed of private firms in France. So far as I am aware, there is no reason to suppose that full advantage will not be taken of the facilities offered by the Port of Swansea for the shipment of these tin-plates.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether the national school recently opened at Kilkeel, county Down, to which the Commissioners of National Education have given provisional consent, is regarded by the Commissioners as an ordinary national school; is he aware that within a radius of about 300 yards of this school there are already four national schools in which provision is made for the instruction of pupils over twelve years of age in the ordinary national school programme; will he state the nature of the evidence which the Commissioners had before them when they gave their provisional consent to this school, to show that, as required by Rule 178 (a) of their code, the school was required for the purposes of national education; and, in view of the fact that the Commissioners in their annual Reports have frequently drawn attention to the unnecessary multiplication of national schools in the past and to the urgent need for the reduction of the number of such schools, will he say what steps he proposes to take to see that official sanction will not be given to this school unless the necessity for its establishment is clearly demonstrated.

The school recently opened at Kilkeel, county Down, will, if taken into connection by the Commissioners of National Education, be regarded by them as an ordinary national school, and will be subject to the same regulations as to salaries and staffing as other national schools. There are four national schools already recognised in the town of Kilkeel at which pupils of twelve years of age and upwards are in attendance, and provision is made in these schools in the ordinary course for the instruction of such pupils up to the sixth standard, and in a few cases in the seventh standard. The Commissioners had before them, a special report from their inspector, who ascertained the views of the managers of the schools situated in the town of Kilkeel and the immediate vicinity, and considered fully this report in connection with the general educational needs of the locality before giving their provisional consent for the establishment of the proposed school. The Commissioners, while opposed to the unnecessary multiplication of national schools, satisfied themselves from an examination of the statistics of the scholars and the general educational requirements of the locality that the proposed school at Kilkeel, which would be attended by pupils of the higher standards only, would be a distinct educational advantage to the town and the surrounding neighbourhood, without appreciably interfering with the interests of the existing national schools.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether the constitution of the Committee promised to inquire into salaries, grants, etc., in intermediate schools, and the terms of reference to that Committee, have yet been decided upon; and, if not, will he state the cause of the delay?

Considerable preliminary progress has been made with regard to the formation of the Committee, and the terms of reference have been under consideration. Owing to the recent changes in the Irish Government, some unavoidable delay has occurred, but I hope shortly to be in a position to make a statement on the subject.