asked the Secretary of State for India whether officers of the British Army who have served in Franco and who transfer to the Indian Army lose nine months' seniority; whether they are in a less favourable condition than cadets who obtain a commission from a cadet school in India; and if he can state the rules on the subject?

Officers who received their first commission in the British Service from the Royal Military College count the whole of their commissioned service towards seniority on transfer to the Indian Army. Officers who held commissions in the Territorial Force or Special Reserve or temporary commissions in the British Service forfeit, for purposes of seniority, nine months of their embodied commission service on transfer to regular commissions in the Indian Army, in accordance with a similar rule which was laid down by the War Office in the case of officers granted regular commissions in the British Service. This rule was adopted in order to prevent the super-session of officers who had been granted regular commissions from the Royal Military College, or from the Cadet Colleges at Quetta and Wellington, by officers who had not been at a training college.

asked the Postmaster-General if he is aware that, as a war measure, the Mardy Post office, near Abergavenny (Mon.), was closed; and whether he will now reopen the post office, in view of the fact that there is a population of some 1,400 people and no post office within reasonable distance?

The sub-post office at Mardy was closed in June, 1916. The head post office at Abergavenny is only a mile away, and there is another office at a distance of one-half to three-quarters of a mile. These offices provide reasonable postal facilities for the neighbourhood, and I am not prepared to sanction the cost of reopening an office at Mardy.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture whether he is aware that there is a keen demand for small holdings and allotments at Billingborough, Horbling, and Pointon, in the county of Lincoln; that a large number of the applicants are ex-Service men; that if present powers were put into force land sufficient for all the applicants could be obtained; whether he is aware that the Kesteven County Council have taken no action in this matter; and whether he will take steps to secure that land is immediately provided for these applicants?

Applications have been received from thirty-five men in the parishes referred to for 230 acres, including eight applications from ex-Service men who require 42 acres. As the Crown own practically all the agricultural land in these parishes, the Office of Woods will endeavour to arrange to provide the land for the ex-Service applicants at Lady-Day next. As regards the other applicants, all who are suitable will, it is hoped, be similarly provided with land at the same date.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture how long it is expected the land at Neasden, now tenanted by seventy allotment-holders, will be retained for allotments; why, seeing this land was the pro- perty of the Willesden Urban District Council, that council did not retain this land for the purpose of permanent allotments, considering that the district is already congested; and what action is being taken by the council to provide the holders with alternative land in the event of their being displaced from their present allotments?

I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply which I gave to him on the 2nd instant. The land in question is at present held in allotments on a seven years' lease, subject to three months notice, and no notice has been received terminating the tenancy, but the Board will urge the council to look out for alternative land which will be available in the event of the allotment-holders being dispossessed. The Board had no power to interfere in regard to the action of the council in selling the land referred to for building purposes; they understand, however, that it was bought by the council and resold at a price equivalent to more than £800 per acre.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he is aware that the amount of damage sustained by the Jews in Poland and Galicia through pillage and destruction of property, in the pogroms and other outrages committed during the last eight months in over 150 towns and villages, is estimated at several million pounds sterling; and if His Majesty's Government will make representations to the Polish Government, either by the Allied or Associated Powers or by, the Council of the League of Nations, to the effect that suitable compensation shall be paid by the Polish State or municipal authorities to the Jews who have suffered damage in the afore-mentioned outrages?

The answer to the first part of the question asked by the hon. Member is that His Majesty's Government have no official information as to the extent of the losses sustained by the Jews in Poland and Galicia during the disturbances of the last eight months. As to the last part of the question, the subject of compensation would not seem to arise while the facts regarding the disturbances are still uncertain.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether more than two Greeks have been tried for the massacres at Smyrna; and whether other guilty Greeks will be tried beside those responsible for the Armenian massacres?

The court-martial held immediately after the disturbances at Smyrna sentenced two Greeks to death, two to imprisonment for life, and others to imprisonment for varying terms. No later information has readied me, but I understand that others will be placed on their trial if this has not already been done. I am not clear what information the hon. and gallant Gentleman seeks in the latter part of his question.