asked the Prime Minister whether, in view of the repeated attacks by German submarines on British hospital ships, the War Cabinet will issue instructions that in future a proportion of German officer prisoners of war should be carried on board every British hospital ship?

I would refer my hon. and gallant Friend to the answer which I gave to a question by the hon. and gallant Member for the Rotherhithe Division to-day.

asked the Prime Minister whether he is aware that discontent prevails amongst the officers of Customs and Excise who are entitled to thirty-two days' leave per annum; whether he is aware that these officers are the only part of that service to be wrongly treated; and whether he will give attention to this matter so that these officers may obtain the compensation due to them, and undertake to see that their thirty-two days' leave per annum may be ensured to them after the War, or that they be paid an increase of salary as compensation should it be necessary owing to the exigencies of public service to reduce the leave now due to them?

This question has been fully dealt with in the replies given to the hon. Member by me on the 20th and 29th November, and the 15th May last. The leave allowed to this class was last year four full weeks, in addition to public holidays. This year it has not been possible at present to allow them more than three full weeks, in addition to public holidays, but, as they know, the question of extending this will be considered later in the year. I am surprised that a body of public servants should in war time protest against this as a grievance, and I am still more surprised that they should continue their protests. They are by no means the only class in the Customs and Excise Service or in the Civil Service generally who do not obtain in war time the full leave which they might be granted in peace time, but I am glad to say that elsewhere in the Civil Service restrictions on leave have been accepted in the proper spirit with a due recognition of the public necessity which demands individual sacrifice. The present restrictions are purely temporary, but, as the hon. Member has already been informed, all leave is subject to the requirements of the public service, and no questions of compensation can arise at any time if it falls short of the maximum.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether, before the introduction of the Home Rule Bill, he will take a vote of the Royal Irish Constabulary and Dublin Metropolitan Police on the question of their remaining under the control of the Imperial Parliament or being handed over to the Irish Parliament; and whether it is intended to carry out the reorganisation of the Royal Irish Constabulary promised in 1914, and to act on Mr. Headlam's Report?

The answer to the first part of the question is in the negative. As regards the last part, no change in the organisation of the Royal Irish Constabulary is being proposed.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War what regulations exist preventing Russian officers from holding commissions in the English Army, and when these regulations came into force; and whether any such regulations were made jointly with the Allies or independently?

I would refer my hon. and gallant Friend to Section 3 of the Act of Settlement (12 and 13 William 3, ch. 2), and to Section 95 of the Army Act.

asked the Undersecretary of State for War what industrial training, if any, is given to men in military hospitals or convalescent who are obviously unfit for further military service?

Soldiers in military hospitals are given such industrial training as is considered will tend to improve the particular disabilities from which they are suffering, e.g., in agriculture for neurasthenic cases, in curative workshops for limb injuries, etc. The question of bedside occupational work is at present under consideration.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether he will give the accommodation available, including staff, in the Grand Central Hotel, Belfast, when used as a hotel, the estimated accommodation as now arranged for Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps, and the average number of women actually accommodated nightly for each week since the corps has been in possession?

I am informed that when used as a hotel the Grand Central Hotel contained 233 rooms, exclusive of attic accommodation for thirty servants. The building is now capable of providing accommodation for 476 members of the Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps. The numbers actually housed in the hotel fluctuates, but the average for the period from the middle of March last is about 200.

asked the Financial Secretary to the War Office whether in 1917 samples of the B5 ankle boot with rubber composition soles, made to the same specification as the tyres for the heavy Government lorries, were submitted to the Royal Army Clothing Department and approval; whether an order for sufficient boots to fit out a unit with such boots was given by the head of the Royal Army Clothing Department and sent to the War Office for confirmation; whether the makers of the soles guaranteed that such soles would wear longer than two pairs of leather soles, thus cutting in half the requirements of the Army for boots, and also that the boots could have been supplied from 1s. 6d. to 1s. 10d. per pair less than with leather soles, thus saving the nation some millions a year; and, if so, will he state why such sample order has not been passed through the War Office, and why this standard of boot has not been tried?

No recommendation or order such as suggested has been received at the War Office from the Royal Army Clothing Department. During the War, however, several trials of various leather substitutes have been made. The trials generally gave fair satisfaction, but owing to the fact that leather of good quality is considered the best material for sole leather it has not been thought advisable to adopt any substitute yet. At the same time, careful notice has been taken of the comparative value of the different substitutes in case shortage of leather in the future may necessitate their use. In such event it would be necessary to change considerably the existing plant in the Army boot repair shops. It should be remembered that Army boots are not discarded unless the uppers are unfit for further service, as the method of their manufacture makes it possible to repair the soles as long as the uppers remain serviceable.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether he is aware of the dispute and stoppage of labour of women workers at the Northern Command boot depot at present under the management of Major Buffham; whether he is aware that the union with which the women were connected have sent in a request for an increase of wages and that such request has been completely ignored; that the women were informed that a system of piece-work was to be introduced without in any way giving the workpeople any opportunity either of knowing the prices fixed or giving them any opportunity of considering them; whether he is aware that all overtures and suggestions for the avoidance of a dispute have been absolutely refused and the request and desires of the workpeople completely ignored; and whether he will make inquiry into this matter with a view to ending the autocracy now being exercised and see that someone with business ability is placed in charge of these factories, so that the present dispute may be ended and good will be once more established?

I understand that some of the workpeople employed at the factory have stayed away-from work. Certain piece-work rates are under trial. If they are proved by experience to be insufficient, they will be adjusted.

asked the Financial Secretary to the War Office what wages a soldier who has been lent out for farm work in the neighbourhood of his own home, and who is living at home, should receive; and whether the wife is, in such circumstances, entitled to any separation allowance for husband and child?

The soldier should receive his full civil rate of wages for the locality with certain additions from Army funds, as explained in my reply on the 3rd instant to the hon. Member for South Leicestershire. The wife is not entitled to separation allowance.

asked the Financial Secretary to the War Office if old non-commissioned officers and soldiers who rejoined the Colours during the South African War for one year received an addition of 1d. a day to their pension in consideration of their doing so; whether, in similar cases where ex-non-commissioned officers and soldiers rejoined during the present War, he will have their pensions increased in respect of such period of further service; and, if so, on what basis?

Pensioners who re-enlisted for a year during the South African War had the alternative of drawing either the bounty payable to other men or their pension. The year's service counted towards increase of pension. At that time re-enlisted pensioners did not continue to draw pension except in special cases. During the present War pensions have been drawn during service on the definite understanding that they would not be increased for the re-enlisted service, and they get the bounty as well.

asked the Financial Secretary to the War Office whether a soldier receives no pay of any kind, not even pocket money, while he is in hospital; and, if so, whether, seeing that numbers of soldiers in hospital are well enough to go out, he will consider the advisability of supplying them with a small amount of money to cover the cost of omnibus fares, tram fares, etc.?

No, Sir. Cash issues up to a maximum of 3s. 6d. a week are allowed to soldiers in hospital at the discretion of the officers in charge, unless the soldier has incurred forfeiture of pay by his own fault.

asked the Under-Secretary of State to the Air Ministry whether part-time men of the older military age (forty-one to fifty-one) serving in the Royal Naval Air Service searchlight aircraft defence of London have been discharged to make way for young men classified for general service and enrolled in the regular Air Force; if so, how many of such replacements have taken place and in pursuance of what Order or other authority of the Ministry; and, if so, why it is necessary to appoint eight full-time men to do searchlight work hitherto performed by four, or at most five, half-time men of the older class?

I have been asked to answer this question. The answer to the first part of the question is in the negative, and the second part does not therefore arise. As regards the last part of the question, in no case have eight full-time men been appointed to do work hitherto performed by four or five half-time men.

asked the Home Secretary if he will have an immediate inquiry into the condition of Tom Stoke, a prisoner in Strangeways Prison, Manchester, who was released from this prison under the Temporary Release of Prisoners Act on the 3rd May, and who should have returned on the 27th May, but his health was in such a bad condition that he was unable to do so, though his brother communicated with the Home Office, and later Stoker himself reported to the police station, when he was examined by the police surgeon there, who reported heart trouble, and yet, notwithstanding his condition, he was returned to Strangeways Prison on 9th June, when he again went on hunger strike, and was in such a weak condition that he had to be fed by tube; and will he order this man's immediate release, and make full inquiry as to who was responsible for taking him back to prison in such a weak physical condition?

This man was temporarily released in May. He failed to return at the date fixed, but surrendered when he learned that the police were endeavouring to trace him. The police had instructions not to take him back to prison unless he was found to be medically fit, but the police surgeon certified that he was fit to return to prison and to undergo detention. He did not report heart trouble. The prisoner refused food, and had to be fed artificially up to 24th June. Though he is now taking food and is reported to be free from organic disease, he has reduced himself to a weak condition by his hunger strike, and, as he is due for release to-morrow, I am communicating the medical report to the War Office.

asked the Home Secretary whether the Statutory provision whereby the police will have one day's rest in seven will be extended to the prison service?

The prison staff has been so depleted by the release of men for the Army that it would not be possible at the present moment to grant the concession suggested. Prison officers are allowed an alternate Saturday afternoon and an alternate Sunday off duty.

asked the Home Secretary what has been the cost of the internment of enemy aliens during the War; and what is estimated would be the cost in capital expenditure and per month of the internment of all enemy aliens now uninterned in the country?

To ascertain the exact cost of the internment of alien enemies would entail a considerable amount of time and trouble which I hesitate to incur at the present time, but I am informed that the approximate cost may be taken at not less than £30 per head per annum, not including interest on capital and apart from loss in labour.

asked the Home Secretary (1) whether there is an internment working camp for civilians at Grassing-ton, near Skipton; if so, how many enemy aliens are employed there; and what civil or military guard is there over the camp and over the aliens when working outside; and (2) whether alien enemies at Grassington Camp are allowed outside the precincts of the camp when not at work; whether they are rationed with regard to food; and, if so, what are the rations?

There is no working camp at Grassington, but a party of twenty-one interned civilians who have been released on licence for work of national importance at the request of the Ministry of Munitions live there. Seventeen of them are Austrian subjects, and the rest are natives of Schleswig-Holstein. The men are under the supervision of civilians; they are housed together in quarters provided by their employers, and in addition to other restrictions they are confined to their quarters after 9 p.m. The same rationing restrictions apply as those imposed upon the general public.

asked the Home Secretary whether his attention has been drawn to the fact that some farmers in different parts of the country are refusing to observe the Summer Time Act; that in consequence the labourers in their employment have not the same opportunity as others for cultivating their allotments, and, the school hours being according to the Act, the labourers' wives have to provide meals at one time for the children and another for the husband; and whether he can take any steps to enforce observance of the Act and thus prevent the imposition of these inconveniences?

No representations have recently been made to the Home Office on the subject. There are certain farming operations, especially those connected with haymaking and harvest, which are dependent upon the sun, and which plainly cannot be made to accord with Summer Time. If my right hon. Friend can furnish information showing that serious inconvenience is being caused in particular districts, the Board of Agriculture inform me that they, will endeavour to suggest methods by which it can be minimised. I have no power to enforce observance of the Act.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether, in view of the inadequate train service between London and Norfolk, he will urge the Great Eastern Railway Company to give better facilities for travelling during July, August, and September, in order that the Norfolk coast resorts, which have already suffered severely in consequence of the War, should net be unduly penalised by the restricted train service now in force?

I am afraid that, in present circumstances, it would not be practicable for the railway companies to give increased facilities for travelling to coast resorts during the summer months.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether fuel used in heating hothouses in private gardens for the production of food comes within the restrictions of the Household Fuel and Lighting Order, 1918; and, if so, whether some allowance will be made to permit the use of fuel until the crops at present growing in such hothouses are fit for use?

The answer to both parts of the question is in the affirmative. Application must be made to the local fuel overseer.

asked the President of the Board of Trade how many bales of cotton are stored in Manchester awaiting shipment to neutral countries?

I cannot state the precise quantity, if any, but it certainly is very small.

asked the President of the Board of Trade which European neutral countries imported an appreciably larger quantity of raw cotton during 1917 than in 1913?

In the case of Spain it would appear that the imports of raw cotton in 1917 exceeded those of 1913 by about 10 per cent. In the case of other European countries the raw cotton imported in 1917 was less than in 1913.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs how many bales of raw cotton were imported into Portugal and Switzerland, respectively, during 1917?

My right hon. Friend has asked me to answer this question. The quantity of raw cotton recorded as imported into Switzerland during 1917 was 20,299 metric tons, equivalent to 89,478 bales of 500 lbs. each. The official returns of imports into Portugal during 1917 have not yet been received. I will inquire whether the information can be procured and communicate the result to the hon. Baronet.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether any control is exercised by his Department over the licences or permits for petrol used in connection with other Government Departments; and whether any accounts or particulars are furnished by any Department issuing such licences or permits of the persons to whom the same have been issued, the quantity authorised, and the purposes for which the same is to be used?

The Petrol Control Department of the Board of Trade controls all the licences or permits for petrol used in connection with other Government Departments if that petrol is obtained from civilian sources, and full accounts are kept of the persons to whom, and the processes for which, the licences and permits are issued, and the quantities authorised for purchase or use. The Patrol Control Department exercise no control over the petrol obtained from Army or Navy supplies.