asked the Minister of Labour the number of cases recorded in the West Ham area in the past three months of persons to whom unemployment benefit has been refused on the ground that no serious attempt had been made to seek work, and the number of cases of girls refused benefit on the grounds that they would not accept domestic service; and whether, in the latter cases, his department assures itself that the particular class of work the girls were previously engaged in offers no opportunity before domestic service is impressed?

Separate figures for girls or for the West Ham area are not available. I can only give figures for all classes of claimants and for the Employment Exchange areas of Stratford, Canning Town, Leyton and East Ham, each of which contains a part of West Ham. The following Table gives for the period 18th October, 1923, to 9th June, 1924, the total number of claims to uncovenanted benefit referred to the local employment committees, and the total number rejected by the committees on the ground that they were not satisfied that the claimants were genuinely seeking whole-time employment:

—	No. of un-covenanted claims referred to Committee.	Number of refusals on grounds of "Not genuinely seeking whole-time employment."
Stratford	10,048	363
Canning Town	14,293	1,236
Leyton	11,765	366
East Ham	3,124	774

Girls are not allowed to remain on un-covenanted benefit if domestic service be suitable employment for them, and they refuse to accept it. Although I have no statistics on the paint, I think it may be safely assumed that in the cases where benefit is refused on this ground there is no other occupation in which the girls have a reasonable opportunity of obtaining work at an early date.

asked the Minister of Labour how many men whose disablement pensions are 70 per cent. and over are in receipt of unemployment benefit?

I regret that I have no statistics showing the rate of disability of disabled ex-service men in receipt of unemployment benefit. The latest available figures show that approximately 38,600 ex-service men in receipt of disability pensions of some kind are registered for employment, and this number includes all those claiming unemployment benefit. 11,700 men in this figure are, owing to their disability, probably employable only on light work and a further 1,600 could only be employed with difficulty under ordinary industrial or commercial conditions. The remainder have been classified by King's Roll Committees as able to be employed under ordinary conditions.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether Government stocks have been offered for sale in the open market, and whether the fullest possible publicity is given when such merchandise is to be disposed of; in particular, whether the goods advertised in the Press on Monday, 2nd June, 1924, comprising handkerchiefs, waterproof capes, driving gloves, scarfs, and underwear, were offered for public tender; and whether such offer received reasonable publicity?

I am unable to trace the advertisement to which the hon. Member refers, but it probably relates to the sale last May of Government stocks of officers' uniform clothing and underwear by private treaty. In a previous answer on the 27th May to the hon. Member for Lowestoft (Mr. Rentoul) I explained the circumstances in which this transaction was carried out. Although the Department finally decided not to sell the surplus clothing in question by competitive tender, the widest publicity was secured by the insertion of public advertisements in the leading newspapers throughout the country, and I can assure the hon. Member that it is the invariable practice of the Department, before the disposal of such surplus stocks, to bring them to the notice of persons or firms likely to be interested.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give an analysis of the gross assessments to Income Tax, Schedule D, in the years 1913–14 and 1919–20, as far as possible into heads corresponding with those shown in Table 69 of the 165th Income

—	1913–14.	1919–20.
	£	£
Railways in the United Kingdom	45,700,968	54,958,532
Employments assessed annually	31,190,178	68,995,906
Employments assessed quarterly, i.e., manual wage-earners	(not assessed separately)	863,815,869
Interest on War Securities, not taxed by deduction at the source, Deposit and other interest	14,430,101	84,682,444
All other assessments	579,312,297	988,739,086
Total gross income, Schedule D	£670,633,544	£2,061,191,837

It will be appreciated that for various reasons arising out of War conditions, e.g., the lowering of the exemption limit from £160 to £130, the imposition of the Excess Profits Duty, etc., the figures for these two years are not properly comparable.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware that His Majesty's Income Tax Commissioners at present assess the incoming tenants of refreshment houses upon the profits returned by the outgoing tenant on the three years' average; and whether he will make arrangements for the elimination of this system and consent to a new assessment of the new tenant?

Under the provisions of the Income Tax Acts, which are of general application, the assessment upon a business is computed on the ordinary Tax Report, namely, manufacturing, productive and mining industries; distribution, transport, and communication, railways in the United Kingdom and other assessments; finance, professions and other profits; employments assessed annually; employments assessed quarterly; interest on war securities not taxed at source and other interests; and Dominion and foreign securities and possessions?

I regret that, owing to changes in the method of compilation of the Income Tax statistics, introduced for the first time in 1920–21, I am unable to give a complete analysis similar to that contained in the 165th Inland Revenue Report of the gross income assessed under Schedule D in 1913–14 and 1919–20. The following figures are, however, available for the two years named:three year's average basis, notwithstanding a change in the proprietorship. Relief can, however, be claimed where it is proved that the profits of a business have fallen short from some specific cause since the change or succession took place, or by reason thereof; in this connection I would refer my hon. Friend to Rule 11 of the Rules applicable to Cases I and II of Schedule D of the Income Tax Act, 1918.

asked the Minister of Health the extreme variations of the rates of births and deaths in the various localities in Great Britain, and also the average rate of births and deaths for the whole country during the past year?

In England and Wales, during 1923, the birth and death rates per 1,000 population, ranged in

—	Births from	Deaths from
Urban Areas of 50,000 population and over	13·0 to 27·5	9·0 to 16·3
Urban Areas of 20,000 to 50,000 population	11·0 to 31·4	7·2 to 16·5
Urban Areas under 20,000 (ignoring populations of less than 1,000).	7·2 to 35·4	4·8 to 20·5
Rural Areas (ignoring population of less than 1,000).	9·8 to 34·7	7·0 to 19·7

The average rates for England and Wales are: births 19·7, deaths 11·6.As regards the figures for Scotland, the hon. Member will no doubt address a question to the Secretary for Scotland.

asked the Minister of Health whether he has any information as to the number of tuberculous persons at present in sanatoria and the number awaiting admission?

The number of persons receiving treatment in residential institutions under the tuberculosis schemes of local authorities in England and Wales on the 1st June last was 18,245, and the number of persons recommended for and awaiting such treatment on that date was 4,150. I am hopeful that the circular issued by my Department in February last, promising grants in aid of approved proposals for the development of the health services, will result in a substantial addition to the available accommodation for the treatment of this disease.

asked the Minister of Health if he has received a resolution from the Dewsbury Board of Guardians, drawing attention to the serious position in which many poor people are placed as a result of the high rents charged for both furnished and unfurnished rooms; and will he introduce legislation to protect such tenants?

I have received this resolution. The Rent Restriction Acts contain provisions limiting the rent of both furnished and unfurnished subtenancies to which the Acts apply. In

asked the Minister of Health whether the Government Bill to deal with smoke abatement will cover steam tractors, which emit sparks and dense smoke during their progress on the public highway; and whether he will confer with the Minister of Transport with a view to stopping this dangerous and objectionable practice?

I have already conferred with the Minister of Transport on this matter. The Smoke Abatement Bill is not considered the appropriate place to deal with it.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Overseas Trade Department whether, in view of the Government financial guarantee to the British Empire Exhibition, any provision has been made that the Fair Wages Clause shall be observed at the exhibition; and, if not, whether he will take steps to secure that it will be observed?

I beg to refer my hon. Friend to the replies which I gave him, in answer to similar questions on the 27th and 28th May.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty if he is aware of the discontent existing among the workmen at the Sheerness Dockyard in consequence of the premium bonus system being forced upon the men, and that the organised workers in all parts of the country have protested against such a system operating; whether the men were in any way consulted before such a system was introduced; and if he will take action in the matter?

The premium bonus system was suspended in 1912 at the request of the trade unions, and has not since been worked at Sheerness or any other dockyard. Other systems of payment by results are in operation, but are not forced on any workman.

asked the Home Secretary the average cost of maintenance of prisoners in July, 1914, and in July, 1924, in convict prisons, in local prisons, and in all prisons, respectively; and the value of labour deducted in arriving at the net cost, in each of these classes?

Information on these points is given in the Annual Reports of the Prison Commissioners, for example, in Appendix 10 of the Report for 1922–1923. It would not be possible to give the figures for any particular month without a vast amount of research and clerical labour.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Air whether he is aware that the duty pay of doorkeepers in his Department has been stopped; why, in view of the fact that there has been no change in their duties, this has been done; whether he is aware that the men concerned have asked, through their union, that a deputation should be received to discuss this matter; and whether he will take steps for a deputation to be received?

In answer to the first and second parts of the question, under the reorganisation of the messenger establishment, the duty pay of the doorkeepers is to be stopped as soon as the messengers selected for establishment are appointed to the new posts, which will carry incremental scales of pay. Eligibility for selection to these posts is a new and distinct advantage, and the discontinuance of the doorkeeping allowance when a messenger establishment is introduced is in accordance with the practice in other Government offices. As regards the third and fourth parts of the question, the request that a deputation should be received was refused because the question had been fully discussed at the Air Ministry Departmental Council with the staff side, upon which the messenger staff was represented.

asked the Minister of Pensions whether he is aware that, as qualification for pension, it is necessary for a British-born subject to reside in this country for 12 years after attaining the age of 50, but that if a man is not a natural-born British subject it is only necessary for him to have resided here for 20 years, aggregate, at any time; whether he will take steps to remedy this in view of the fact that a claimant, a British-born subject, who bad resided here for an aggregate period of 55 years, but had not so resided during the previous 20 years, was refused a pension, whereas if he had been an alien born he would have received one; and whether he will consider making residence in one of our Colonies equivalent, for this purpose, to residence in the United Kingdom in the case of a British-born subject?

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply which my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer gave on the 3rd July to the hon. Member for North Hammersmith (Mr. J. Gardner).