POOR LAW ADMINISTRATION, WEST HAM.
asked the Minister of Health if he is aware that the West Ham Poor Law Commissioners have decided to close down the Cumberland Road stores (county borough of West Ham), from which people who are receiving Poor Law relief were able to purchase various commodities at a much cheaper rate than from the shopkeepers; and if he can give any reasons why the grocery department is being closed down?
My attention has not previously been called to this matter, and, as at present advised, I see no reason to inquire into it.
asked the Minister of Health if he is aware that the West Ham Union Poor Law Commissioners have decided to abolish the 48-hour working week and the eight-hour day of a number of their employ és, and to increase the hours to 10 or more per day, without in any way consulting the members or officials of the unions concerned; that this is a violation of the agreements agreed to by the Ministers of the various Government Departments and also a violation of the principles recognised by all the Whitley councils, and that it is a recognised established principle in Government Departments, Government dockyards, and the Woolwich Arsenal that, before any reduction in wages or increase in hours of labour is put into operation, negotiations must take place between chiefs of the Departments and the officials and the men of the trade unions concerned; and if he intends taking any action in the matter?
I have received certain representations on this matter, and am in communication with the Board of Guardians.
POOR LAW RELIEF.
asked the Minister of Health if he is aware that the Poor Law guardians throughout South Wales are systematically refusing to grant relief to surface workers, and if he intends taking any action in the matter?
No facts have come to my notice indicating that the guardians are not complying with the law in this matter and in the circumstances I do not propose to take any action.
asked the Minister of Health if he is aware that the Commissioners in charge of the Poor Law area for Chester-le-Street, Durham, have reduced the allowance to wives of coal miners now locked out from 12s. to 8s. per week; and if he intends taking any action in the matter?
I understand that the Chester-le-Street Board of Guardians have made this alteration. The matter is one within the discretion of the guardians, and I do not intend to take any action.
asked the Minister of Health if he is aware that the Burton-on-Trent Poor Law Guardians have decided to reduce the scale of relief by 25 per cent. at once and a further reduction of 25 per cent. in two weeks' time, and if he intends taking any action in the matter?
I have seen a newspaper report that the Burton-on-Trent Board of Guardians have taken this decision. The matter is one within the discretion of the Guardians, and at present I see no ground for my intervention.
POWER PLANT AND MECHANICAL EQUIPMENT.
asked the Secretary for Mines what coal mines in England and Scotland have electric power plant installed; what is the total capacity in kilowatts of power plant installed in English and Scottish coal mines is the total consumption in Board of Trade units for their own purposes by English and Scottish coal mines, generated by their own power plants, and purchased from outside; what is the total horse-power of mechanical plant installed above ground and under ground; what is the total number of pit ponies employed under ground by the English and Scottish coal mines; how many compressed air, internal combustion, and electric locomotives are used under ground in the English and Scottish coal mines; how many electric coal-cutters and how many pneumatic picks are in use under ground in the English and Scottish coal mines; and how many coal mines in England and Scotland do not utilise electric power above ground and under ground?
All the information available in my Department is to be found in Table 43 of the Statistical Appendix to the Annual Report of the Mines Department for 1924. The Report for 1925 has not yet been published. Further information as to power plant and mechanical equipment installed at coal mines will be available when the results of the 1924 Census of Production are published by the Board of Trade.
UGANDA (MAN-EATING LIONS).
asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what steps are being taken to free the districts affected from man-eating lions in Uganda?
I have not received any communication from the Acting-Governor on this matter, but am requesting him to furnish me with his comments on the state of affairs disclosed by the recent report by the Game Warden, extracts from which have appeared in the Press. The general system in force in Uganda is that natives are encouraged, by means of rewards, to protect themselves against the depredations of lions, but in districts where the situation is beyond the control of the inhabitants, the officials of the Game Department render assistance in dealing with the animals.
KENYA (OWNERSHIP OF LAND).
asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies how much land in the townships of Kenya is subject to legal covenants restricting the ownership and tenancy of such land to others than Asiatics; whether the existence of such covenants was known to His Majesty's Government at the time of the publication of the White Paper in July, 1923; and whether the fact was brought to the notice of the Indian deputation invited to London by the Colonial Office later in the same year.
I have not yet received full particulars of the areas affected. In Mombasa they appear to amount to rather under 200 acres, but it must not be assumed that anything approaching that area is still at the disposal of the Government. In Nairobi the area is much smaller.
The matter was first raised in a telegram from Uganda at the end of March, 1924, many months after the White Paper was issued, and it was then brought to the notice of the late Secretary of State; but protracted correspondence with the Governments of Uganda and Kenya was necessary before the legal position could be fully ascertained, and it would have been premature for him to mention the matter to the Indian Colonies Committee, which he met in the spring of 1924, and which is, no doubt, the deputation referred to by the right hon. and gallant Member, even if segregation had been discussed at the meetings.