asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he can make some special effort to allocate to Barrow-in-Furness some repair work on naval ships, having regard to the unemployment that exists in that town among shipyard workers?

It is regretted that no naval repair work is available for the purpose referred to.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty whether he is in a position to indicate the date on which the new scales of post-War disability pensions to pre-War disability pensioners who served during the War will come into operation?

The question of applying the post-War scales of pension to pre-War disability pensioners who have served during the War is still under consideration, but it is anticipated that a settlement will be arrived at very shortly. The new scales will become operative as from the 1st April, 1919.

asked the Minister of Labour whether he is aware that officers who have served His Majesty during the War and then volunteered for further service, which they have been prevented from carrying out owing to their being discharged from the Army on account of their health, are disqualified, according to a recent Treasury ruling, from being eligible for financial assistance in connection with the scheme for the higher education of ex-service students; the reason for this decision; and whether he will take steps to remedy the injustice?

The object of the scheme for the higher education of ex-service students was to assist demobilised officers and men of suitable qualifications to resume or enter upon a suitable course of higher education at the earliest opportunity after demobilisation, and thus to restore as far as possible the supply of men of higher general scientific and professional attainments. The scope of the scheme and the last date of application were made widely known in the Press and in Service circulars. It is true that the Treasury has recently reaffirmed what was a principle of the scheme, that officers and men who volunteered after the Armistice for further service with the Forces beyond the date by which they could have secured their demobilisation do not come within the intention of the scheme. In the case of men who duly applied for training and whose health broke down during training, some form of alternative training has invariably been considered. And in the case of those in employment whose health has broken down, every effort has been and will be made by the Ministry of Labour to find them employment of a more suitable nature by the and, if necessary, of the business training scheme, which is still open to applicants who were unemployed in November last.

asked the President of the Board of Education whether any and what difference is or is intended to be made by either the Board of Education or by local education authorities between provided and non-provided State-aided secondary schools in respect of the efficiency grant?

I presume that the hon. Member refers to the deficiency grant payable under Section 44 (2) of the Education Act, 1918. This grant is payable to local education authorities only.

asked the Secretary for Scotland if he is aware that in coast towns large numbers of houses are tenanted by non-residents who have permanent homes everywhere; that during the winter months many of these houses in coast towns have been occupied as furnished apartments by ex-service men and their families and other homeless persons; that intimation has been given to these ex-service men and others to vacate these dwellings at an early date, to enable the non-residents to let them as furnished houses for the summer months to holiday-makers at greatly enhanced values; that as a result of this many families, including many ex-service men, will be homeless through no fault of their own; that owing to the men thus affected being unable to retain their temporary homes or to acquire others in the immediate vicinity on account of the rents demanded, they will be obliged to give up their employment, without being able to claim the benefit of the Unemployment Act, in respect that their present employment remains open to them, but that the want of a house precludes them from continuation therein; that these houses are during the whole of the summer months, and again at Christmas, at Easter, and at Whitsuntide, let for purposes of gain, thereby fulfilling the provisions as regards occupation specified in the Housing (Scotland) Act, 1920, and thus defeating the spirit of the Act; and will he take steps to make early inquiry into these questions with a view to providing a remedy?

I am not aware of all the circumstances set forth in the question, but I am informed that one local authority of a coast town has communicated with the Scottish Board of Health, stating that there are cases such as those referred to in the question in its area and enquiring whether the powers in the Housing (Scotland) Act, 1920, for compulsory hiring of houses were applicable. The Board are of opinion that these powers could not be applied to houses occupied under the circumstances set out in the question. They have accordingly advised the local authority concerned to endeavour to secure accommodation for dispossessed persons by hiring any other houses in their area which come within the scope of the Act.

asked the Minister of Health whether he is aware that the expression, lawfully sub-let, in Sub-section (3) of Section 15 of the Increase of Rent and Mortgage Interest (Restrictions) Act, 1920, has reference only to the power of a tenant to sub-let under the terms of his own tenancy and does not concern the terms of the sub-tenancy which are by this Act made binding upon the landlord and may be such as to inflict very considerable hardship upon him and render him liable to be the victim of a fraudulent bargain between tenant and subtenant; and whether, to prevent a continuance of such practices, he will reconsider the matter and introduce a short measure to amend the Act and correct other defects therein which judicial decisions have made clear?

I am advised that such cases as those referred to can only arise where the landlord has omitted to require from the tenant the usual covenant not to sub-let without his consent. As I have previously informed my hon. and learned Friend, I cannot undertake to introduce further legislation on this subject.

asked the Minister of Health whether his attention has been called to the professional editorial opinion on the subject of the recent Report of the Committee on Business Premises, of the "Law Times," which, referring to the Increase of Rent and Mortgage (Restrictions) Act, expresses the opinion that no one would regret the termination of that hasty and ill-considered emergency, statute; that the Government had decided not to act upon the recommendations of the Select Committee on Business Premises; and that the Act would always be remembered as a monumental piece of bad draftsmanship even at a period when draftsmanship of Acts of Parliament was at a distinctly low level; and whether, having regard to this condemnation from a competent authority, he will repeal the Act without further delay and so limit the injustices to which it has given rise?

I am not prepared to accept the opinion which is quoted by my hon. and learned Friend, or to adopt the suggestion that the Act should be repealed.

asked the Minister of Health whether his attention has been called to the evidence and findings of the Birth Rate Commission; whether any steps have been taken by the Ministry to disseminate the knowledge therein contained, or make it generally available, and whether it is proposed to introduce legislation removing the difficulties which patients now have in obtaining from chemists the simple and inexpensive, drugs which experience has proved effective, and the report of this Commission emphasises?

I assume that my hon. Friend is referring to the recent Report on Venereal Disease by a Special Committee of the National Birth Rate Commission. As I have previously stated,

Note. —The above figures are subject to correction.

The exports of Oilcloth of Foreign and Colonial manufacture from the United Kingdom as follows:—

the matters dealt with in that report are now under consideration, and I am not at present in a position to make a definite statement on the subject. The report has been published by the Commission, and is available for purchase in the ordinary way.

asked the Secretary to the Department of Overseas Trade what is the total amount of oilcloth, in square yards, exported from this country to Russia, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Roumania, and Turkey in Europe in the year 1920?

Quantities of oilcloth, linoleum, and cork carpet exported from the United Kingdom, consigned to the undermentioned countries, registered during the year 1920 were as follow:

asked the President of the Board of Trade if, in concluding the Trade Agreement with Russia, he has been able to work on any reliable data as to the expected benefit to this country in respect of imports and exports?

It has not been possible to form any reliable estimate of the trade which is likely to accrue as a result of the Trade Agreement with the Soviet Government.

asked the Prime Minister whether he proposes to give the House an opportunity of expressing its opinion on the new trade agreement with Russia; and whether the agreement needs Parliamentary approval before becoming operative?

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Shipping whether he can give any information as to the relative cost of crew, officers, and men of a ship of selected speed and tonnage, passenger or cargo type, for the British, American, and

I have been asked to reply. I would refer my hon. Friend to the answers which I gave on the subject on the 17th instant, a copy of which I am sending him.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will give the latest comparative figures of trade between Canada and the West Indies under the preferential arrangements in force between those parts of the Empire?

I annex a comparative statement of the trade between Canada and the British West Indies for the three years to 31st March, 1920, which has been extracted from a statistical return compiled for the Dominion Government:

Japanese Mercantile Marines for any recent dates?

I shall be glad to show the hon. and gallant Member such information as we have as to the American and Japanese rates of pay, but in the absence of full particulars as to manning it would not be possible to compile a satisfactory comparative statement of the kind he requires.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Munitions why Vrongoch distillery, near Bala, Merionethshire, is still retained by them; whether the goods stored in it will be sold, and, if so, when; and what is the cost of retaining this building in respect of rent and watchmen, respectively?

This distillery is in the occupation of the War Office and not of the Ministry of Munitions. Certain plant and machinery contained therein has been notified to the Disposal Board as surplus and has now been sold. The last part of the question should be addressed to the War Office.

asked the Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the Rumanian authorities are suppressing the liberty of Hungarian nationals in Transylvania; whether the Protestant churches there are being persecuted; and whether passports to Hungarian nationals are on all occasions being refused?

His Majesty's Government have received appeals as to the condition of religious and racial minorities in Rumania. The inconveniences to which these communities have been subjected are largely the inevitable consequences of the transference of administrative authority and are not, so far as His Majesty's Government are aware, due to any form of persecution. Owing to the discovery of a widespread plot aiming at the military reconquest of some of the ex-Hungarian provinces, the Rumanian Government have found it necessary to impose restrictions on passports from Hungary to Rumania. But I am informed that no obstacles are put in the way of those Hungarian residents in Rumania who wish to return to Hungary.

asked the Chief Secretary whether he proposes to publish as a Parliamentary paper the Report made to him by County Court Judge Bodkin?

As I stated on the 24th ultimo, the answer is in the negative.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware that the present Exchequer grant of 4s. a head per week for pauper lunatics was made under the Local Government Act, 1888, many years ago, and was fixed at that amount as being approximately one-half of the then net cost of maintenance; that the Departmental Committee on Local Taxation in their report of 1914 recommended that the Exchequer grant of 4s. a head per week for pauper lunatics should be replaced by an Exchequer grant of one-half the average net cost of maintenance and housing in England and Wales, to be revised from time to time; and that the cost of maintenance and housing has now risen at many asylums to 35s. a head per week, and at the York City Asylum is now 31s. 6d. a head per week; and whether, to meet this urgent case, he will take immediate steps to give effect to the report of the Committee in 1914 without waiting for a general revision of the whole system of assigned revenues?

According to the Committees report this grant, as originally fixed, represented the difference in the average cost of maintaining lunatics in workhouses and asylums respectively.

As regards the rest of the question I must refer my hon. and learned Friend to the answer which I gave on 25th October last to the hon. Member for Frome.