POST OFFICE (AMERICAN MAILS).
asked the Postmaster-General whether he is aware that in the agreements with shipping companies to carry mails to New York and other United States ports from this country there is a Clause imposing penalties for undue delay in carrying such mails to their ports of destination; that mails are now being sent from American ports by vessels under the American flag and directly controlled by the United States Shipping Board; that such ships are much slower in crossing the Atlantic than British vessels which carry mails to this country from American ports; whether undue delay in delivering mails for this country has been observed by this preference by the American Government for ships under the control of the United States Shipping Board; and whether representations have been made to Washington on the subject?
The mails from Great Britain to the United States are conveyed in the fastest ships available, and the contracts require that the passage across the Atlantic should be made in the shortest time consistent with prudent navigation. The selection of ships for the carriage of mails from the United States to Great Britain is made by the American Post Office, which defrays the cost. I understand it is the practice to give a preference to American ships, even though a delay of one or two days in the delivery of the mails is entailed. I do not think any useful purpose would be achieved at present by making representations to the United States Post Office with a view to the alteration of this policy, but I might point out that it is open to the senders of correspondence from America to mark their letters specially for conveyance by a particular ship, and such instructions are complied with.
GERMAN REPARATION (RECOVERY) ACT.
asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he is aware that a large number of German booksellers refuse to recognise the German Reparation (Recovery) Act, 1921, and that, in consequence, English booksellers are compelled to add to the purchase price 35 per cent. duty and charge it to their English customers; and whether he proposes to take action in the matter?
I have no information to this effect.
asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware that it is the practice of English importers in respect of small items of duty payable under the German Reparation (Recovery) Act, 1921, in the aggregate representing a large sum, to avoid annoyance and ex-expense and to remove difficulties in trading, to pass on the duty to their customers without recovering from Germany; and whether he proposes to take action in the matter?
I have no reason to suppose that the practice described exists to any appreciable extent, and, in any case, I should not propose to take any action to relieve importers of the consequences of their failure to exercise the right given them by law.
OLD AGE PENSIONS.
asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether he will have inquiries made into the case of Mrs. Mary Fox, old age pensioner, of Dewsbury, who applied for a pension on attaining the age of 70 years in June, 1919, made several applications subsequent to that date, but did not receive a pension until August, 1921; and whether, as the delay was due to the failure of the proper authorities to forward her birth certificate, it is possible for Mrs. Fox to be paid arrears for the period from the date of the first application until the pension was granted, nearly two years?
Mrs. Fox made three claims to an old age pension. The first two were disallowed because there was no evidence that she had attained the age of 70. The third was allowed on the strength of a certificate of baptism then produced by her for the first time. In accordance with the provisions of Section 6 (1) of the Old Age Pensions Act, 1919, payment was made as from the first Friday following the date of receipt of the claim, namely, 9th September, 1921. There is no power to pay pension in respect of any period before that date. As regards the alleged failure of the proper authorities to forward Mrs. Fox's birth certificate, I would point out that although it is for the claimant to establish her title to a pension, assistance is given to claimants by search of registers of birth. Such search was made in the case of Mrs. Fox, but no trace of an entry of her birth could be found.
SMOKE ABATEMENT BILL.
asked the Minister of Health when the Government propose to bring in the promised Smoke Abatement Bill?
A Bill on this subject was introduced yesterday in another place.