asked the Prime Minister whether the Inter-departmental Committee which is about to consider the applicability of the principle of joint standing district councils to Government establishments will also have referred to it the questions raised in paragraph 25 of the Fourth Report of the Royal Commission on the Civil Service, 1914 [Cd. 7338], and which that Commission recommended should be the subject of a special inquiry to be held without undue delay?

I do not think that it would be desirable to delay the work of the Committee by adopting the course suggested by the hon. Member.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he can give the names of the persons who will constitute the Inter-departmental Committee which is being set up to consider what modifications of the recommendations of the Whitley Report are necessary in order to make it applicable to Government establishments?

The Committee will consist of the Minister of Labour (in the chair) and representatives of the following Departments: the Treasury, the Admiralty, the War Office, the Ministry of Munitions, the Air Ministry, the Office of Works, and the Post Office.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture if arrangements are being made under which farmers who have suffered loss through compliance with the Orders to plough grass land will be able to claim compensation; if so, to whom the claim should be sent; and whether farmers claiming will be expected to come to London to support their claims before a central body dealing with the whole Kingdom or whether the claim will be considered by some competent authority in the district in which the loss was sustained?

Claims for compensation of the kind referred to can be made to the Defence of the Realm (Losses) Commission, and forms for the purpose can be obtained from the agricultural executive committees. The Commission has hitherto sat in London to hear such claims: the regulation of their procedure is a matter for the decision of the Commission themselves, and the Board have no jurisdiction in the matter.