Written Answers
Outrages (Ireland)
asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he will grant the Return standing in the name of the Member for Hitchin for Monday next relating to outrages in Ireland; and, if so, by when the Return can be made?[
Return showing, with dates, the number of murders of members of the Royal Irish Constabulary and of the Dublin Metropolitan Police, and of soldiers, officials, and civilians, and the number of political outrages on persons and property in Ireland since the 1 st day of January, 1919.]
With regard to the first part of the question I would refer the Noble Lord to the reply given to a question on this subject asked yesterday by my hon. and gallant Friend, the Member for Bury St. Edmunds (Lieut.-Col. Guinness). With regard to the latter part of the question, I am having a Return of Outrages brought up to date, which will be presented, and which I hope will give the Noble Lord the information he requires.
Acquisition Of Land
asked the Lord Advocate whether the Reference Committee for Scotland under The Acquisition of Land (Assessment of Compensation) Act, 1919, have made rules under that Act; and whether such rules differ in any respect from those made by the Reference Committee for England and Wales and published as Statutory Rules, 1919?
The Reference Committee for Scotland have made no rules under the Acquisition of Land (Assessment of Compensation) Act, 1919. The second part of the question does not therefore arise.
India (Emigration)
asked the Secretary of State for India whether the Select Committee appointed by the Imperial Legislative Council of India to discuss colonisation schemes with deputations from Fiji and British Guiana has published its Report?
I have seen a notice in the Press that the Committee appointed under a Resolution passed in the Indian Legislative Council on the 14th February had concluded its labours and adopted a resolution regarding Fiji emigration, but I have not as yet seen that resolution.
Food Supplies
Bacon
asked the Minister of Food what amount in tons of imported bacon, including shoulders and hams, has been disposed of, either directly or through agents, for the Ministry of Food at £60 per ton or under since control was re-established on 9th August; and what is the estimated cost of this bacon and the loss involved?
The information asked for in tn this question calls for a considerable statistical return, the result of which will be communicated to the hon. Member as soon as it can be completed.
Potatoes
asked the Minister of Food whether the proposed Potato Order, 1920, has been signed?
The answer is in the negative.
Surplus Government Locomotives (Sale)
asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if there exists on the Continent surplus rolling stock, the property of His Majesty's Government, which is not suitable for use in this country; if negotiations for its acquisition by the Polish Government have taken place; and if, in view of the need for the development of British trade and increased facilities for transport between Danzig and Warsaw, he will consider the desirability of sale forthwith to the Polish Government conditional on its use being reserved strictly to this stretch between Danzig and Warsaw?
The reply to the first part of the hon. and gallant Member's question is in the negative; as regards the second part, there were until recently certain locomotives for which the Polish Government were negotiating, but as satisfactory financial arrangements could not be made, the negotiations came to an end and the engines were sold to the Belgian Government. The answer to the third part of the question is in the negative.
British Army
Typhoid Fever
asked the Secretary of State for War whether a number of cases of illness in the Army occurring in 1915 and 1916 in the Near East and sent to Malta, Lemnos, and other places, were diagnosed by the clinical symptoms as typhoid fever; whether the majority of these cases were subsequently returned as suffering from other diseases, the altered diagnosis being based on agglutination tests performed by bacteriologists sent out for the purpose; and if he will say how the figures regarding typhoid fever in the late War can be compared with those for other campaigns, in view of this alteration in the method of diagnosis?
Under active service conditions in the field it was often impossible to carry out careful and prolonged bacteriological and clinical examination of cases. Under these circumstances a provisional diagnosis was returned. Such cases, on reaching the Base Hospitals, as at Mudros, Malta, or Lemnos, were submitted to bacteriological and clinical examination, as a routine measure, by the pathologists and physicians attached to such hospitals. In many cases the provisional diagnosis was altered; but until the investigation of the records, which is now proceeding, is completed, it is not possible to give any estimate of the number of cases in which such alteration of diagnosis was necessary. Some of the cases provisionally diagnosed as Enteric were subsequently returned as suffering from other diseases, and other cases provisionally diagnosed as Dysentery or Diarrhœa were finally diagnosed as Typhoid or Paratyphoid Fever on the bacteriological evidence. The diagnosis of disease has undoubtedly been more accurate in the late War than in any previous campaign.
asked the Secretary of State for War whether the figures regarding typhoid fever in the British Army contained in the recent White Paper are based on returns made by clinical diagnosis of the disease, or whether they are based on returns made by bacteriologists after agglutination tests have been made?
The figures in question were based on returns made both by clinical and bacteriological diagnosis. Bacteriological diagnosis was employed in every case, so far as the circumstances, permitted.
Troops In Near East
asked the Secretary of State for War if he will state how many soldiers are at present stationed in Mesopotamia, Persia, the Caspian, Palestine, and other parts of the Near East; if it is intended to send any of them to Constantinople; and if they will be replaced by other largely augmented units, in view of events in Turkey and the declaration of an Arab kingdom embracing Upper Mesopotamia and Palestine?
I am afraid it is not in the public interest to give this information.