asked the President of the Board of Education how many boys and girls, respectively, in the Manchester area who have passed the seven standards but are not yet 14 years of age will be passed into standard ex-VII at the end of the current term; whether such boys and girls will be required to attend school, and what further education, if any, they will be given; whether in the event of full-time employment being offered they can be immediately released to take up such employment; and whether, in the case of such boys, as they are not permitted to attend evening classes on the ground of their age, he will see whether provision can be made for their receiving similar tuition in day schools?

My right hon. Friend regrets that he does not possess the information asked for in the first part of the question. As regards the second and third parts, I would remind my hon. Friend that the question of school attendance and exemption therefrom is governed by statutory provisions under Sections 42–45 and Section 138 of the Act of 1921. As regards the last part of the question, it is not the case that children are debarred from admission to evening classes on the ground of age, but if the local authority desires to make provision for part-time day continuation classes for employed juveniles my right hon. Friend will consider any proposals that may be made to him.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether the Senate of the University of London have declined the offer of April, 1920, made by the then President of the Board of Education, of the Bloomsbury site; and whether the Treasury is prepared to entertain alternative proposals for increasing the present accommodation at South Kensington for the central offices of the University?

The answer to the first part of the question is, in the affirmative. In reply to the second part the Treasury have already informed the Senate of their willingness to consider any practicable alternative proposal for an increase, without undue cost, of the accommodation for the central offices of the University which the Senate feel able to suggest.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Overseas Trade Department whether he is aware that goods manufactured in Czechoslovakia and Austria are now being exposed for sale in the pavilion of the British Empire Exhibition; and whether such goods will be withdrawn, seeing the purpose of the Exhibition?

I am informed by the British Empire Exhibition authorities that they are doing their utmost to prevent goods of foreign manufacture being on sale in the Exhibition, and that they have already insisted upon the removal of a number of such articles. If the hon. Member will send me particulars of any specific cases which he has in mind, I will at once ask the Exhibition authorities to make investigations and take the necessary steps.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he has decided to place-in the Library the instructions recently issued relative to the naval personnel standing by for industrial work in the event of a strike or lock-out?

asked the Minister of Agriculture the number of prosecutions that have taken place for failure to pay the minimum rate of wage prescribed under the Agricultural Wages Act and the number of convictions secured, together with the amount of arrears ordered by magistrates to be paid?

I have authorised prosecutions in 11 cases, two of which have already taken place, and convictions secured in both cases. The arrears of wages ordered to be paid were £11 19s. 2½d. and £2 8s.

Copies of the Order of 3rd July, 1925, and previous Orders on the same subject are now available in the Library.

asked the Minister of Agriculture the amount of land in Durham, and its position, that has gone out of cultivation since 1919?

The acreage of land returned by occupiers as under crops and grass in each petty sessional division of Durham in 1919 and 1924 is given in the Statement below. This indicates the districts in which the area under cultivation has declined:

asked the Minister of Agriculture what was the average price of English main-crop potatoes received by the farmer for the following years, namely, 1921 to 1924, both dates inclusive; and the price realised wholesale for the same potatoes in the same years?

I have no information which would enable me to state the average price received by farmers for the country generally as distinct from wholesale prices. At some markets the wholesale prices are those realised by the farmers less any charges for commission, while at other wholesale markets the potatoes may be sold mainly by merchants. The price per ton realised by farmers for the following classes of

asked the Home Secretary how many applications for naturalisation have been received since the present Government took office; how many have been granted; how many are at present under consideration; and how many have been refused?

The number of applications for naturalisation received from the 1st November last to the 13th of this month, inclusive, was 1,285. The number of certificates granted during that period was 636, and the number refused 126, but a large proportion of these 762 decisions relate to applications received before the 1st November. It would be a lengthy and troublesome task to say how many of the 1,285 new applications have been disposed of and how many are still under consideration. In a number of cases consideration has been postponed till the applicant has longer residence in this country.

asked the Home Secretary whether, in view of the beneficial results

I regret that, in present financial conditions, I should not feel justified in asking for additional funds for this purpose.

asked the Undersecretary of State for the Home Department, as representing the First Commissioner of Works, what is the cost per ton incurred by the Coal Department of His Majesty's Office of Works for carting coal in sacks in London, including wages, and depreciation of horses, vans, lorries, etc.?

The cost per ton incurred by the Coal Department of His Majesty's Office of Works for carting coal in sacks in London is 3s. 91d., including wages and depreciation of horses, vans, lorries, etc. An additional charge for loading sacks is incurred of 1s. 7½d. per ton for shovel loading or 1s. 3½d. per ton for loading from shoots.

asked the Undersecretary of State for the Home Department, as representing the First Commissioner of Works, what is the administrative cost per ton of the Coal Department of His Majesty's Office of Works in London, including a due proportion of office rents at Storey's Gate, all wharf clerks, stocking ground, allowance for short weight, telephones, etc.?

It is not possible to calculate this cost exactly, but 1s. 3d. a ton would be an approximate figure.

asked the Undersecretary of State for the Home Department, as representing the First Commissioner of Works, the total amount of the expenditure upon the acquisition or construction of Employment Exchange buildings, and the amount of rentals now payable on buildings leased as Exchanges; and whether any new buildings are in contemplation to be used as Exchanges, and the value of sites purchased and held for future construction?

As regards the first part of the question, I regret that the amount of labour involved in preparing a statement of the expenditure could not be justified, but I am having a statement of current rentals prepared which will be sent to the hon. and gallant Member shortly. As regards new schemes in contemplation, the Estimates for the current year for labour and health buildings give particulars of those in contemplation at the time the Estimates were framed, and I will shortly send to the hon. Member particulars of the schemes (including sites) which have subsequently been approved.

asked the Minister of Labour the total amount of the fees paid to the branch manager of the 742 Employment Exchanges for the year ended 31st March, 1925; and whether he will consider the desirability of reducing the number of these Exchanges?

The answer to the first part of the question is, approximately, £185,000. This sum covers remuneration for personal services, the provision of office accommodation and certain clerical assistance. In addition, £53,000 was paid direct by the Department as salaries of clerks, under special arrangements necessitated by the abnormal degree of unemployment. 95 per cent. of the total expenditure is recovered from the Unemployment Fund as cost of administration of the unemployment insurance scheme. While the need for the continuance of particular branch offices is kept constantly under review, I am bound to point out that consistently with the proper administration of the unemployment insurance scheme there is no likelihood that the total number of these offices can be materially reduced. The scheme includes contributors in all parts of the country, and while the cost of a particular office necessarily varies to some extent with the amount of unemployment with which it has to deal, to close the office altogether might leave a large area without any efficient means of dealing with, and testing the validity of claims to, benefit. Such a position would not only be unfair to the insured contributors but might leave a considerable opening for abuse. I may add, that we are being constantly pressed to open new offices on the ground that the existing offices are too distant from groups of unemployed persons.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether his attention has been drawn to a question put to ex-service men in the recent examination for permanent appointments in the Civil Service, in which the candidate was asked to state how far he thought Labour party was an accurate and suitable name for the party which has adopted the name; and whether he will make representations to the Civil Service Commissioners that no question should be put in an examination which might elicit information as to what political party a candidate for the Civil Service supported?

The question referred to is one of eight questions in the general paper, three of which are to be attempted. The general paper has mainly to consist, according to the syllabus, of questions on subjects of interest and importance at the present day. Few such subjects are uncontroversial; and while the Civil Service Commissioners are quite indifferent concerning the opinions of candidates on subjects of political, or any other, controversy, it would greatly handicap them in making the assessment of intelligence and knowledge which is the object of the general paper if they were to be debarred from so large a field of interest as the political.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether the Treasury approved a scale of pay for the principal area officers of the Ministry of Pensions appointed under the re-organisation scheme in 1919, according to which provision was made for three grades with salary varying in accordance with the population in the district covered by the area office; what the scale was; and if any alteration has been made in the scale within the last six months?

I have been asked to reply to this question, and I would refer the hon. and gallant Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Peckham (Mr. Dalton) on the 16th instant.

asked the Minister of Labour whether ho is aware that an agent, acting for the management of the Kit Cat Club, interviewed an official of the Ministry of Labour on 5th March last with regard to permits for the admission of certain alien musicians, known as the Vincent Lopez Band; and that on 10th March a letter was written by his Department to this agent saying that permits would be granted subject to certain conditions pot out in the letter; whether at the interview referred to the agent disclosed the fact that notice would be given to 12 English musicians on 7th March; and, if not, whether, seeing that the giving of such notice was an evasion of one of the conditions of the permit, he will say what action he has taken or proposes to take in the matter?

The answer to the first two parts of the question is in the affirmative. According to the recollection of the official concerned, it was stated at the interview that it would be necessary in any event to discharge certain British musicians from the Capitol Theatre on the 7th March. These musicians were employed to play incidental music at the Capitol Theatre which is, I am informed, owned and managed separately from the Kit Kat Club, and I have no evidence to lead me to suppose that their discharge was connected with the issue of the permits for the Vincent Lopez band. This latter was employed at the Capitol Theatre it is true, but for a stage performance, and not in the same capacity as the other band. In these circumstances, I cannot see any sufficient ground for saying that the conditions of the permit have been evaded.

asked the Minister of Labour the number of persons registered as unemployed on 1st July, 1925, and the corresponding date last year in the county of Leicester, excluding the city?

At 6th July the number of persons on the registers of Employment Exchanges in the county of Leicester, excluding the city, was 3,772 as compared with 1,691 at 7th July, 1924.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (1) which of the Powers were signatories to the agreement by which Montenegro was annexed by the Yugo-Slay State; and whether His Majesty's Government assented to the arrangement;(2) if he is aware that the people of Montenegro have never been consulted as to their incorporation in the State of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes; and why no plebiscite was held before the country was incorporated within the territories of the Sorbs, Croats and Slovenes?

There was no international obligation by which Montenegro was annexed by the Serb-Croat-Slovene State, nor was any formal plebiscite held to ascertain the wishes of the Montenegrin people. What happened was that His Majesty's Government, who were not convinced by the representative character of the Pact of Corfu of July, 1917, or of the decision of the Podgoritsa Assembly of 24th November, 1918, postponed their recognition of the union proclaimed by those two instruments until they were satisfied that this union was in fact desired by the majority of Montenegrins. The opportunity for this expression of national will was furnished by the elections to the Constituent Assembly in 1920, and His Majesty's Government took unusual steps to satisfy themselves that these elections did in fact, and when all reservations had been made, represent the desire of the majority. For the result of these elections and a report on the manner in which they were conducted, I would refer the hon. Member to Command Paper 1124 of 1921.

asked the Minister of Pensions whether he is aware that 11/M/98,815, J. Burton, 177, Tower Gardens Road, Tottenham, who, from 1900 to 1921 served in the Army 15 years and seven months, and is now permanently unfit owing to paraplegia, is left entirely without means of livelihood except from the Poor Law; and will he give sympathetic consideration on compassionate grounds to this man?

As the hon. Member has already been informed, this man has made claims in respect of several disabilities, but it has not been possible to accept them as attributable to or aggravated by his war service, and on four occasions the Independent Pensions Appeal Tribunal has disallowed his appeal. I regret that in these circumstances I am not empowered to make any award of pension.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he can provide the figures showing the total value of British produce in 1913, and the value of exports of British produce and the corresponding figures for 1924?

With regard to the first part of the question, I would refer my hon. and gallant Friend to the answer given by the President of the Board of Trade on 14th July to the hon. and gallant Member for Maidstone (Commander Bellairs), a copy of which I am sending him. The declared value of the exports of articles, the produce and manufacture of the United Kingdom, during 1913 was £525,254,000, The corresponding figure for 1924, excluding exports to the Irish Free State, was £752,993,000.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he can give figures showing the total quantity of bars, billets, and blooms, and other iron and steel manufactures imported into the ports of South Wales and Monmouthshire from each country abroad for the years 1913 to 1924, inclusive; and the total quantity of iron ores imported into the district in the same periods?

The following statement has been prepared from particulars published in succeeding issues of the Annual Statement of the trade of the United Kingdom, and shows, so far as the particulars are available, the imports into the ports of South Wales and Monmouthshire of the classes of goods specified. Similar data for 1924 have been added.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he can give figures showing the production of iron and steel in Great Britain during the years 1913 and 1924; the number of blast furnaces in operation at the end of 1913 and June, 1925, respectively; the numbers of workers employed in the same periods; and similar information in respect of France?

The following statements give the required information, so far as the particulars are available.employed in this country and in France at the two periods specified.