asked the Minister of Transport the amount of grants allocated from the Road Fund to each rural authority in the administrative county of Leicester for the year 1925?

The grants made from the Road Fund during the year 1925–26 to rural district councils in Leicestershire were as follow:of the hosiery trade has yet been reached; and, if so, what is their decision?

I have been asked to reply. As stated yesterday by the President of the Board of Trade, in reply to the hon. Member for the Elland Division (Mr. Robinson), the application in respect of hosiery is at present before a committee of inquiry, which is still engaged in taking evidence.

asked the Minister of Transport whether he is aware that drivers of commercial vehicles and chars-a-bane are compelled to take excessively long journeys, which have been the cause of accidents happening as a result of the drivers being exhausted and thus becoming a menace to other road users; and will he take the necessary steps to make effective Regulations to control this traffic or introduce legislation having as its object this control?

I am not aware that the conditions under which the drivers of commercial motor vehicles have been working have been proved to be the cause of accidents. If the hon. and gallant Member can furnish me with any specific instances I should be obliged. I am not yet able to say when it will be possible to introduce the proposed legislation with regard to motor vehicles, but I do not anticipate that I shall be able to include in the Bill provisions relating to conditions of service.

asked the Minister of Transport if he can state for the year 1925 the number of units generated by all authorised undertakers and by railway and tramway companies; and the estimated number generated privately?

The returns submitted by authorised undertakers for the year 1925 have not yet been completely verified. The unchecked returns show that approximately 6,685,700,000 units were generated during the year ending 31st December, 1925. With regard to railway and tramway companies, complete figures are not yet available for the calendar year 1925. Complete data in respect of private generation are not available. A rough estimate, however, from which I see no reason to differ, is given in the Weir Report that the total national consumption from all sources in 1923 was about 200 units per head. During that period the units generated by authorised undertakers were 4,016,000,000.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he has obtained an estimate of possible economies which would result from the centralising of purchases of material and tailoring services for the Government's uniformed staff, military and civil; and, if not, whether he will have the matter considered?

The possibility of securing economies by the centralisation of the purchase of selected stores was considered by the Committee on the co-ordination of the technical services of the Navy, Army and Air Force which reported in 1923. In accordance with the recommendations of the Report, the then Government decided that in existing circumstances the complete or partial amalgamation of the common Services of the three Fighting Departments was not advisable, as no substantial economies would thereby be effected. Technical co-ordinating Committees were, however, set up, in conformity with the recommendations of the Report, to consider the standardisation of patterns and specifications, and one of the Committees, on which civil as well as service Departments were represented, dealt with patterns and specifications of clothing and material, and succeeded in reducing the number of patterns of clothes and standardising certain of the specifications.As regards purchase, the general principle is that each Department purchases garments or clothing materials of a pattern peculiar to itself, but when one pattern is used by more than one Department, the agency system is adopted, the largest purchaser buying as a rule for all Departments using that pattern. For instance, the War Office buys caps and the various army pattern clothes used by the Royal Marines and all the garments and materials of army pattern used by the Royal Air Force. The General Post Office buys clothing and materials of standard pattern used by other civil Departments, such as the Home Office and the Office of Works. This secures that not more than one Department buys to one pattern. It is doubtful whether economy would result by one Department purchasing clothing and materials used exclusively by another, but I am making further enquiry whether further economy could be secured by an extended use by the civil Departments of the agency of the General Post Office.Inspection is similarly to a great extent centalised. The Army Inspection Branch inspects not only garments and material ordered by the Director of Army Contracts for the Army, Royal Marines, and Royal Air Force, but also garments ordered by the General Post Office and other Government Departments.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his attention has been drawn to the hardships suffered by claimants for old age pensions, particularly during a period of depressed trade, owing to the amount earned for the previous 12 months being taken into account in estimating the means of a claimant; and whether he is prepared to initiate legislation to obviate this hardship by provision that the rate of pension shall be based upon the means of the applicant at the time of application, subject to cessation or reduction of the pension if on resumption of work the earnings are more than the statutory amount, or otherwise?

I am aware that in the comparatively few cases where the means of a claimant to an old age pension cannot be otherwise determined, the means are, under Section 2 (1) (b) of the Old Age Pensions Act, 1911, taken to be the income actually received during the year preceding the date of the claim, but it is open to a claimant to have his case reviewed at any time. The Government is not prepared to initiate legislation in the sense suggested in the second part of the question.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he can state, as far as the figures are available for the year ended 31st March, 1925, the total amount paid in old age pensions and the cost of administration for the Borough of Southwark, stating those for men and those for women separately; and the number of claims rejected and the various causes for rejection?

I regret that the information requested by the hon. Member is not available, as detailed statistics of old age pensions in each separate area throughout the country are not compiled.

asked the Minister of Labour the number of unemployed persons and the respective classified trades for which the said unemployed persons were registered at the Walworth Road Exchange, in the Borough of Southwark, at the latest most convenient date, and the comparable figures of the two previous years?

As this information is too detailed to publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT, I am sending it direct to the hon. Member.

asked the Minister of Labour the total number employed in the administration of his Department at the Ministry and at the whole of the Exchanges under his control in Great Britain, including messengers, if any, and charwomen, on the last convenient date, and the comparable figures for the corresponding periods in 1923 and 1924, respectively?

On the 1st April, 1926, the total staff of the Ministry employed in Great Britain (including industrial staff at training centres, messengers and charwomen) was 15,152. The corresponding figures on the 1st April, 1923, and the 1st April, 1924, were 17,640 and 15,866 respectively.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty what was the cost of all fresh meat supplied to ships and establishments in Great Britain for the years 1920 to 1925, showing the cost month by month and distinguishing between beef and mutton?

I am afraid that these figures could only be obtained by a considerable expenditure of time and labour, which I do not think would be justified in the circumstances.