asked the Home Secretary if, in view of the fact that Mr. Emmett Fox has been interned on the ground of acting in a manner prejudicial to the restoration of order in Ireland, he will state the precise charges against Mr. Emmett Fox?

It is undesirable to disclose the information in the possession of the Government as to the precise manner in which Mr. Fox and others have been or are acting in order to prejudice the restoration of order in Ireland; but if Mr. Fox contends that he has not been so acting, and submits to me any representations in support of such a contention, I will refer them to the Advisory Committee.

asked the Chief Secretary on what charge Professor O'Rahilly has been arrested; and when he will be brought to trial?

I am informed by the Commander - in - Chief that Professor O'Rahilly was arrested as an active Sinn Feiner known to have sheltered wanted men on the run and to have concealed their arms. There are strong grounds for believing that he was prominent in organising the ambushes of police at Parnell Bridge, Cork, in January last, at Washington Street in April, and the murders of unarmed soldiers on the 28th February last. Professor O'Rahilly is the author of an article in a recent issue of the "Theological Quarterly Review," a Roman Catholic publication. This article has been interpreted as the theological defence of the Sinn Fein murder campaign in Ireland. Professor O'Rahilly has been interned by order of the Military Governor.

asked the Chief Secretary if the uniform staff at the State asylum, Dundrum, work from 6.30 a.m. to 9.30 p.m., and 8 p.m. on alternate nights, including bank holidays and Sundays, for five consecutive days and are off duty on the sixth day, the only additional time off duty being five hours per month; if he is prepared to grant the staff the benefit of the eight-hour day as is conceded the Broadmoor Asylum since 1st April, 1920, and pay for overtime at the rate of 1s. 11d. per hour, the rate of the Irish prison service for all time exceeding the eight-hour day; and, further, when the increased lodging allowance granted on 1st February, 1920, is to be paid?

I regret that it has not yet been possible to give a decision in regard to the question of overtime and lodging allowance, but I hope to be in a position to do so in the course of the next week. The payment of the increased lodging allowance has been deferred owing to counter proposals having been made by the Inspector of Lunatics, which they regarded as more equitable to the staff.

asked the Minister of Labour if he is aware that before the commencement of the present dispute in the cotton trade a large number of the workpeople in this industry had been unemployed for some weeks through the shortage of coal; that, in consequence of the closing of mills through the depression in trade, a considerable number of those workpeople had been unemployed for periods which vary from several weeks to more than six months; and whether such workpeople will be entitled to continue to receive during the period of the dispute the unemployment benefits which they received for their unemployment before the dispute commenced?

I am aware that a number of workpeople in the cotton industry have been in receipt of unemployment benefit for a considerable time. In accordance with Section 8 (1) of the Unemployment Insurance Act, 1920, their right to receive benefit during the stoppage due to the present dispute depends on whether they are unemployed at the present time by reason of this stoppage. This is a question which must be determined by the insurance officer in the light of the facts in each particular case. As my hon. Friend is aware, there is a right of appeal to the Courts of Referees and the umpire in the event of disallowance of benefit by the insurance officer.

asked the Minister of Labour whether he is aware that owing to the serious state of the jute trade most of the operatives will have exhausted their period of 16 weeks' unemployment benefit, and, unless there is an amendment of the law, they will be without assistance until November next; and whether he will consider the possibility of introducing further legislation extending the period for the payment of unemployment benefit?

I would refer my hon. Friend to the proposals of the Unemployment Insurance Bill introduced to-day.

asked the Minister of Labour whether the tapayer will be called upon to pay out-of-work donation to those miners who, after the settlement of the present coal dispute, are unable to continue their labour in pits which will not at once be re-opened on account of the damage done by reason of the cessation of pumping directly caused by the action of the miners' executive early in the dispute in forbidding the engineers in charge of the pumps to remain at their work?

Under the rule? governing the Out-of-Work Donation Scheme (which are the same as those laid down by the Unemployment Insurance Acts for unemployment benefit), an applicant, who has lost his employment by reason of a stoppage of work which was due to a trade dispute at the factory, workshop or other premises at which he was employed, is disqualified for receiving donation so long as the stoppage of work continues, except in a case where he has, during the stoppage of work, become bonâ fide employed elsewhere. The application of this provision in the circumstances described in the question would depend on the facts of the particular case, and there would be the usual right of appeal to the Court of Referees and the Umpire.

asked the Minister of Labour if he will give instructions to cease altogether the interference of the Trade Board with the wages of grocery, provision, dressmaking, and tailoring trades, in view of the unprecedented distress and unemployment in the country?

Where a Trade Board has been established in a trade, it can only be withdrawn on production of evidence that the conditions which alone justify its establishment, namely, that no adequate machinery exists for the effective regulation of wages through out the trade no longer obtain. No such evidence has been adduced in respect of the trades mentioned by my hon. and gallant Friend, and I see no ground therefore for taking action in the direction suggested by him.

asked the Minister of Pensions whether he is aware that James Stanley Fairbank, late officers' steward, second class, R.N., who was demobilised on 27th February, 1919, after having suffered severely from sleeplessness and nervous debility, and who subsequently developed neurasthenia, applied for a disability pension in September, 1920, which was recommended by a medical board in December, 1920, but quashed by the regional committee with- out any further medical examination; why was the opinion of the local medical board set aside by a body which had made no such personal investigation; and will he undertake that the case shall be reconsidered on the basis of the original medical board?

Although the medical board which examined this man when he made a claim to pension more than 1½ years after discharge expressed the opinion that his disability was due to service, the Ministry were unable to accept that view and pension was accordingly refused. The case has now been heard by the independent Pensions Appeal Tribunal, which has confirmed the finding of the Ministry, and, as decisions of the tribunal are final, I regret that the case cannot be re-opened.

asked the Minister of Health what was the total cost to public funds of the General Election of 1918 in Great Britain, the eost of the same General Election in Ireland, and the total number of voters who polled in Great Britain and Ireland, respectively?

The total cost for Great Britain was £428,247; for Ireland, £62,469. Some part of the expenditure will be non-recurrent. No official return has been compiled of she number of voters who polled, but the total of the votes polled, as given in the ordinary books of reference, is 10,025,954 for Great Britain and 967,073 for Ireland.

asked the Minister of Health whether, in view of the fact that under the National Health Insurance one of the Insurance Commissioners for Wales was a woman, he intends to appoint a woman to the Welsh Board of Health?

If a vacaney occurs, I shall be prepared to consider the appointment of a woman to the Welsh Board of Health. At present the Board, which consists of salaried administrative officers, is sufficient in number for the work to be done.

asked the Minister of Health whether he is aware that 200 beds have been closed at the London Hospital owing to want of funds; whether patients who urgently need the services of this hospital are daily being refused admission owing to that cause; and whether, since the Report of the Commission on the Hospitals presided over by Lord Cave is now long overdue, he can expedite its publication, in view of the serious position of this and other hospitals?

I am aware of the facts stated in the first part of the question, and I fully appreciate the gravity of the situation which is developing at the London and other hospitals. The report of the Cave Committee will be published this evening, and is receiving the earliest possible consideration by the Government.

asked the Minister of Health whether he has received any representations from the National Dental Association in favour of including its 1,700 members within the scope of the Dentists Bill without making any individual application; and whether he has come to any decision on the matter?

Yes, Sir. This question was raised on an Amendment in Committee yesterday, and I have nothing to add to the statement I made then.

asked the Prime Minister whether he will invite the Imperial Cabinet to consider the unification and consolidation of the matrimonial laws of the Empire, with the object of putting an end to the grave complications and injustice resulting from the present uncertain state of the British and Imperial laws on the subject?

It will not be possible to arrange for this subject to be included in the matters to be discussed at the forthcoming meeting of Prime Ministers.

asked the Prime Minister if the Government is making a grant of £100,000 towards the purchase of a recreation and football ground at Wembley; if so, what is their authority for so doing; and what are the conditions attached thereto?

The answer to the first part of the question is in the negative. The other parts therefore do not arise.

asked the Minister of Transport if he will consider the question of making it compulsory for lorries and heavy vehicles driven by mechanical power to carry reflectors to enable the driver to see overtaking traffic?

I have nothing to add to the answer given on 26th May to the hon. Member for Wimbledon (Mr. Hood), of which I am sending my hon. and gallant Friend a copy.

asked the President of the Board of Education whether, considering that the Board have already recognised the urgent necessity for further provision of secondary school accommodation in the east end of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, he will use his influence to obtain for the scheme submitted by the local education authority full recognition for the purpose of Government grant?

I assume that the scheme referred to is the proposal to acquire by compulsory purchase a site at Heaton for two secondary schools in respect of which the Board, on 26th April, confirmed an Order made by the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Corporation. It is not possible for me to give a final decision in the matter at the present stage of the proceedings.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will supply a detailed statement of the amount and the object of all moneys spent since the Armistice at the instance of the Cabinet and without the authority of this House; and will he say if the Treasury has been consulted in any such cases?

All public expenditure requires Parliamentary authority. The Treasury has a limited power to anticipate such authority in urgent cases. The sanction of the Treasury is always necessary.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether his attention has been called to the detailed statement of the increased cost of living, so far as essential food and clothing are concerned, contained in the "Sunday Express" of the 8th May, 1921; whether he will have the accuracy of the figures there given investigated; and how it is that the Board of Trade's present estimated percentage of increase, namely, 130 per cent., is so much higher than that given in the aforesaid newspaper, which by expert authority places the increase at only 52 per cent. on certain items, which in themselves contribute more to the Board of Trade's gross percentage figure than to those items which are omitted?

I have been asked to reply. I have seen a copy of the statement referred to, which appears to have formed part of an advertisement of the goods sold at a particular establishment in the West End of London, and purports to relate to the increase in the cost of living of a family with an income of £500 to £750 a year, the members of which did all their shopping at that establishment. I am not prepared to undertake an investigation into the accuracy of the statements contained in that advertisement. The statistics regularly compiled by the Ministry of Labour relate to the average increase in the United Kingdom as a whole, in the cost of living of working-class families, and no official statistics have been prepared relating to the cost of living of families such as those referred to in the advertisement.

asked the Home Secretary if the proposed Committee on Street Trading has yet been formed; and, if so, who are the members?

The Committee was appointed on the 18th April. I am sending the hon. Member a list of the members.

asked the Postmaster-General whether, in view of the increased cost of letters going abroad, he will consider sending those to the Continent of Europe by air mail in order to give an accelerated service in return for the extra cost of postage?

The pending increases in foreign postal rates are intended to make good the loss which is incurred on the present services, and the new rates would not be sufficient to cover the higher cost of sending mails by air. Moreover, an accelerated service to the Continent cannot be provided by air so long as aeroplanes do not fly at night.