asked the First Lord of the Admiralty if he will furnish a Return showing the rates of service pension for naval ratings, including rank allowances, double petty time and chief petty officer time, and the rates of pension for warrant officers and other ranks in the Royal Marines; and whether he will consider the desirability of issuing a small booklet giving full particulars of pensions and pay that would be available at a low price for the use of men serving in or discharged from the Royal Navy?

Full particulars of the pension scales are published in the form of posters exhibited in His Majesty's ships, and both pension and pay scales are freely available in various publications to men of the Service, e.g., in recruiting literature and the Appendix to the Navy List. It is not considered necessary to add to these facilities. The average rates of pension in the respective ranks are as follow:

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty what subsistence, money is paid to dockyard men transferred from Rosyth and Pembroke to Devonport; and for how long this subsistence allowance is paid?

Apart from the lodging allowances described in my reply to a similar question by the hon. Member on the 21st April (OFFICIAL REPORT, Columns 1195–6), the only subsistence money payable is in respect of food on the journey south or for temporary sleeping accommodation for a few nights before unfurnished or furnished accommodation is obtained. The amount payable for the journey if it extends overnight is 10s. or 7s. 6d. (according to rate of wages) for the man himself and actual food expenses within the same rate for each member of the family whose expenses are allowable. If the journey does not extend overnight, but takes 10 hours or over, the allowance payable is 3s. 4d. or 2s. 6d. for the man and actual food expenses within the same rate for each member of the family. Where it is necessary to occupy temporary sleeping accommodation at Devon-port before furnished or unfurnished accommodation is obtained, 10s. or 7s. 6d. a night can normally be allowed for not more than three nights, or in very exceptional circumstances seven nights.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether arrangements can be made to pay the allowances to dockyard men transferred from Rosyth and Pembroke to Devonport promptly on arrival or before their departure from the closed dockyards?

The lodging allowances payable to these men depend on the expenses actually and unavoidably incurred for furnished accommodation, etc., at Devonport, and they can therefore only be paid as they accrue. Pending settlement of their claims the men can obtain advances locally.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether all the dockyard men, including hired men, transferred from Rosyth and Pembroke to Devonport have been found employment?

Yes, Sir; but transfer confers no title to permanent employment.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, as representing the First Commissioner of Works, if he will have an inscription put on the statue of Sir Charles Barry to show that he was the architect to the Houses of Parliament?

The First Commissioner of Works does not consider it desirable to add anything to the existing inscription on the statue in question.

asked the Secretary of State for Air (1) if he will state, in respect of flying accidents during the past 12 months, the ages and dates of pilot qualification of pilots concerned; the duties on which they had been employed during the 12 months prior to the accidents; the flying hours carried out by them during that period as pilots of training machines and Service machines, respectively; the dates the aircraft involved in the accident were taken on charge of the Royal Air Force; and the dates these aircraft were designed;(2) if he will state, in respect of regular officers who have qualified as pilots when over 30 years of age but under 35, when 35 years of age but under 40, and when 40 years of age and over respectively, the numbers who have so qualified in the past three years; the average hours flown per annum by officers in each of these groups after qualification as pilots; and the estimated annual cost of maintenance of these officers as qualified pilots;(3) if he will state, of the regular establishment of the Royal Air Force of one air chief marshal, one air marshal, 11 air vice-marshals, 18 air commodores, 39 group captains, 126 wing commanders, and 283 squadron leaders respectively, the numbers in each rank qualified as pilots; the numbers in each rank so qualified who have performed no pilot duties during the past 12 months; and the numbers in each rank who have flown as pilots for less than 12, less than 25, and less than 50 hours respectively in the past 12 months?

To furnish my hon. and gallant Friend with the particulars desired would involve a great amount of detailed investigation, including the scrutiny of the personal record of several hundred officers and the subsequent sifting of their confidential reports. In view of the pressure of work on the staffs concerned, I do not think the results would be of sufficient value to justify this expenditure of time and labour.

asked the Secretary of State for Air the total sum due from the Government of India on account of Air Force units in the service of that Government; and what steps have been taken to secure settlement of such contribution?

No agreement has been reached as to the basis of calculation of India's liability for home effective and non-effective charges in respect of Air Force personnel serving in that country, nor has the question of the rate of departmental charges for equipment or that of liability for sea transport costs before 1st April, 1920, yet been setttled. I am consequently not in a position to state a total figure for India's indebtedness. The Air Ministry has made a request for an increase in the present provisional rate in respect of effective charges and for an advance payment on account of non-effective charges, and negotiations on these and other matters in dispute are still in progress.

asked the Secretary of State for Air what steps have been taken to settle the case of the 10 War-time contracts for the construction of aerodromes, together with the date of the last negotiations made in this regard?

I would refer the hon. and gallant Member to my reply to-day to the hon. Member for Elland (Mr. W. C. Robinson).

asked the Secretary of State for Air the total amount of the sums received and credited to non-public accounts in respect of fees received from tradesmen permitted to establish themselves on encroachments within Air Force cantonment areas for trading purposes in Iraq; and what action has been taken in this matter?

The question of the hon. and gallant Member no doubt refers to paragraph 18 of the Report of the Comptroller and Accountant-General on Air Services Appropriation Account. In the case to which the Comptroller and Accountant-General refers, a combined fee had been charged to the tradesmen for the use of sites or accommodation on ground belonging to the Royal Air Force, and for the privilege of supplying commodities to the troops, a proportion being credited to public funds as rent and the balance paid to non-public accounts exactly as in the case of the rebate given by the N.A.A.F.I. A new system is being adopted as from 1st April, 1926, by which payments made by the tradesmen for rent, light and water will be credited to public funds, white the element of rebate on purchases is dealt with separately between the tradesmen and the units. A complete record of these fees is not available, and I am not in a position to state the total amount credited to non-public funds.

asked the Secretary of State for Air whether his attention has been drawn to the waste of public money recently caused by the Air Ministry sending down an inspector to Lincoln for the purpose of inspecting a nonexistent meteorological station, and what was the cause of this mistake?

I am glad to have an opportunity of correcting the misconception which appears to have arisen in this case. No special journey was undertaken for the purpose mentioned, and there was no waste of public money. The facts are, that an inspector, who had in any case to inspect the meteorological station maintained by the City of Lincoln, took the opportunity of visiting at the same time a private address there, to which a rain-gauge had been supplied, but found on inquiry that the gauge had been purchased for a third person and was not in use at the address given. I might explain that our rainfall statistics depend on the public spirit of individual contributors, and it is, there- fore, desirable to get into touch with any likely person in possession of a rainguage whenever suitable opportunity offers.

asked the Minister of Transport whether he is aware that owners of traction engines, used in the conveyance of timber from plantations, are being pressed to have these engines fitted with rubber tyres; that apart from the high cost of the rubber tyres they would, if fitted to these traction engines, prevent them being used off the roads in wet weather, and that even on the roads in such weather they would be unsafe for other traffic; and whether, in the circumstances, he will reconsider the issue of Regulations enforcing the use of rubber tyres on the engines referred to?

I think I cannot do better than refer my hon. and gallant Friend to the answer which I gave on the 27th April to a question by my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for the Newbury Division of Berkshire (Brigadier-General Clifton Brown), a copy of which I am sending him. From it he will observe that I do not contemplate making Regulations on this subject at the present time. I should add, however, that I am unable to concur in the views expressed that rubber tyres on these vehicles, when used for haulage on the roads, are unsafe in wet weather.

asked the Minister of Transport whether, in the interest of economy, he will withdraw his objection to the employment of one man in the dual capacity of highway surveyor and sanitary inspector by the Basingstoke Rural District Council; whether he is aware that in this sparsely-populated agricultural district there is not work for a whole-time sanitary inspector, there being in the district no sewerage system, no factories, no streets, and only one slaughter-house, and that the highway surveyor, who in the course of his duties has to constantly traverse every road in the district; can well perform such sanitary inspection duties as are necessary?

The Basingstoke Rural District council is responsible for 221 miles of road, and I am advised that the services of a whole-time surveyor are essential if these highways are to be properly maintained. Furthermore, I understand that the Minister of Health is of opinion that the duties of sanitary inspector could not now be adequately discharged by an officer whose time would be largely taken up by his duties of highway surveyor.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, with reference to his proposal to double the licence on traction engines of over 12 tons, he will exclude engines classed as agricultural engines; and whether he will treat engines used for moving timber from plantations as agricultural engines?

The proposals for the alteration of rates of duty on mechanically-propelled road vehicles do not involve any alteration of the existing scales in respect of agricultural engines. The duty payable in respect of engines used for moving timber from plantations will not be altered, if these engines are merely used for hauling timber over the land to the road-side, and are not used upon the road except for hauling their necessary equipment and gear. If engines are used for the purpose of hauling timber on roads, I see no reason why they should not pay the same rates as traction engines used for ordinary haulage.

asked the Prime Minister whether it is proposed to take any steps to control the prices of foodstuffs and other necessaries of life during the present industrial dispute?

Under the Emergency Regulations the Government have power to control prices and will exercise that. power if they consider it desirable.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether, seeing that the Swedish Government informed the British Government last January that Sweden was opposed to dealing at the extraordinary Assembly in essential March with the admission of any State other than Germany to the Council, and that other Powers were also opposed, the British Government made any reply to this intimation; and whether, in consequence of this warning, the British Government took any steps to check the of highway surveyor. negotiations regarding the admission of Spain or Poland to seats on the Council?

The hon. Member has been asked to defer this question until my right hon. Friend's return.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is aware that the Turkish Government has offered for sale the British warships sunk at the Dardanelles; and, seeing that the right to salve all wrecks is reserved to the Commission of the Straits by Article 43 of the Treaty of Sevres, what steps he proposes to take?

I would invite my hon. and gallant Friend to refer to the answer given to the hon. and gallant Member for Heywood (Colonel England) on the 28th of April, which gives all the information in our possession. The Treaty of Sevres was not ratified and His Majesty's Government cannot, therefore, base any action on it.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will state by whose authority Sir Eric Drummond. General Secretary of the League of Nations, made an application to the Greek Government for information as to the measures that had been adopted by that Government against Communism?

His Majesty's Government have no knowledge of any such application by the Secretary-General of the League of Nations

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the ex-members of the Royal Irish Constabulary now rank as ex-service men; and, if so, whether the four ex-members of the Royal Irish Constabulary who are at present employed in the Inland Revenue Department will be allowed to retain the status of ex-service men under which they were admitted to the Department, thus being qualified for retention in the service in the category of the non-pensionable "P" class?

It is not, and has not been the practice to regard ex-members of the Royal Irish Constabulary as entitled to the special preference as regards employment in British Government Departments which has been extended to men who served in the Army, Navy and Air Force during the late War; and I regret that it is not possible to reverse this rule in favour of the four individuals concerned who were, I understand, engaged on a temporary footing by the Inland Revenue Department in Northern Ireland when ex-service men were not available.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury the total amount of money that has been lent to local authorities by the Public Works Loans Board under the Small Dwellings Acquisition Act since 1899; the total lent to public utility societies; and what amount has been repaid up to date?

The total advances made since 1899 by the Public Works Loan Board to Local Authorities under the Small Dwellings Acquisition Act amount to £8,148,742; the sums repaid amount to £605,817 6s. 11d. No loans are made to public utility societies, etc., under the Small Dwellings Acquisition Act. Loans under the Housing Acts to public utility societies and housing companies amount to £8,744,223; the sums repaid aggregate £3,281,673 10s.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he will state the proportion of British refined sugar, apart from the output of sugar-beet sugar, manufactured in this country as compared with the total annual imports from abroad?

Of the total imports of unrefined and refined sugar in 1925 about 57 per cent. consisted of unrefined cane sugar which was held in bond for refining.