asked the Secretary of State for War whether his attention has been called to the fact that a great many trained nurses who served as nursing sisters on active service continuously from August, 1914, onwards have now been released from service without any official expression of gratitude for their services; whether he is aware that several cases of nurses who were recommended in the strongest terms by their commanding officers for the Royal Red Cross, First Class, in recognition of exceptional services in the actual war zone, have been passed over, whilst nurses in many cases untrained, and who never left Home duty, have received this honour; and whether, in view of these facts, he will cause inquiry to be made with a view to securing justice to those who have been strongly recommended for this honour.

All trained nurses who served under the War Office as nursing sisters on active service have, on being demobilised, received an official letter conveying thanks for their services. Recommendations for the award of the Royal Red Cross, whether at home or abroad, are in all cases made by the General Officer Commanding under whom the person recommended has served, and so far as I am aware there have been no eases in which nurses serving abroad, who have been so recommended, have not been given the decoration.

asked the Secretary of State for War whether a medal having been given to officers and men of His Majesty's Navy and the Royal Indian Marine for operations in the suppression of the arms traffic in the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf in 1909–14, he will consider the claims to a corresponding recognition of the military force which took part in the same operations.

The grant of the Medal, which is purely a naval one, rests with the Admiralty, and it has been held that military officers or men are not eligible for it.

asked the Secretary of State for War why the pay of Mr. B. Smith, who was temporary clerk of the works at Nigg, was stopped on 10th March, 1919, although the termination of the engagement did not take effect until 1st July, 1919, Mr. Smith meanwhile being in hospital through illness caused by war service; whether he is aware that Mr. Smith was mentioned by the Secretary of State for War for valuable services rendered; and whether he can now be recommended as eligible for a pension from the fact that he was wholly under the control of the Scottish Command from 4th November, 1915, to his breakdown in health in December, 1918, and that his calling-up notice in December, 1915, was returned to Colonel Fry, the then divisional officer, Royal Engineers, who instructed him to remain at his post.

I am making enquiries into this case, and will inform the hon. Member of the result as soon as possible.

asked the Minister of Transport whether, in view of the fact that the proposed increases in railway rates will inevitably impose serious burdens upon trade industry and the cost of living, he will institute forthwith the promised scientific inquiry into the ear- ings of the railways of the United Kingdom, whereby it can be determined what increases, if any, are necessary at the present time; and whether, pending the result of such inquiry, no increase in railway charges shall take place.

The increases in railway rates recommended in the recently published report of the Rates Advisory Committee took effect on the 15th January last. A systematic inquiry by the Committee into the principles on which railway rates are based and the existing classification is being undertaken and is proceeding, and representative bodies have been invited to submit their views.