asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the nominal value of the Debt redeemed in the last financial year by means of the £23,306,000 net cash available for that purpose?

It is not possible to say what nominal amount of Debt was cancelled by a particular part of the Sinking Fund. The whole £60,000,000 Sinking Fund was used to cancel Debt to the nominal value of £65,279,000

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the market value of the National Debt on 31st March, 1927, excluding loans to certain Allied Governments, but including the accrued interest on National Savings Certificates?

The market value on 31st March last was about £6,308,000,000, excluding debts to the United States of America and Allied Governments. In many cases the price at that date would have been cum dividend, and the above figure would probably include about £50,000,000 of dividend interest in the market price of the stocks.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether Mr. Newton, the representative at Hankow of the British Minister in China, has formally protested to the Hankow Government against the occupation of the British Consulate and other British property by Southern troops at Chinkiang; if so, what reply has been received; and whether he can make a statement on the subject?

Yes, Sir Mr. Newton protested in writing against this outrageous conduct by the Nationalist troops; he has not reported the receipt of any reply. A telegram of 3rd May from His Majesty's Consul-General at Shanghai reports that the troops have vacated the Concession.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will state why the British Government has not yet carried out its obligations to officers transferred to the service of the Government of Northern Ireland to see that Whitley Council machinery was set up in that service, having regard to the fact that the Act of 1920 provided for a period of seven years during which transferred officers would have the guaranteed conditions applied under the new authority?

No such obligation is placed upon the British Government by the Government of Ireland Act, 1920.

asked the Secretary of State for War what is the lowest grade or appointment which is open to a civilian employé to fill which is counted as a position of an established civil servant; and what is the total number of civilian employé employed by the War Office, and in what capacities?

As regards the first part of the question, if by lowest grade my hon. and gallant Friend means lowest paid, the lowest established grade is that of foreman, Army Ordnance Services, in the provinces. As regards the second part of the question, the total number of civilian employés employed by the War Office at home is, approximately:

(a) Administrative, professional, supervising and clerical	9,400
(b) Industrial	24,400

asked the Secretary of State for War what are the designations of all the grades and appointments of established civil servants under the administration of the War Office; what are the numbers of persons, male and female, respectively, employed in each grade and appointment; what are the designations of those persons who are on the temporary list though qualifying for establishment; what are the numbers of such persons in such categories; how many persons are there doing similar work to the above grades but are not established, that is qualified for pension, or temporary, that is, qualifying for establishment position; what are the rates of pay for such persons, with bonus shown as a separate item; and how do these compare with all the above grades and appointments?

In view of the labour which would be involved in compiling this return, I trust that my hon. and gallant Friend will not press for this information in detail.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty if he will consider the granting of hard-lying money to the crews of His Majesty's destroyers serving under war conditions on the China station?

The answer is in the negative.

asked the Secretary of State for Air the number of aircraft of both land and sea types belonging to the Royal Air Force that will participate in the aerial pageant to be held on the Hamble, Southampton, on the 15th May, and the approximate number of aircraft personnel that will be employed in this pageant?

The answer is that six single-seater fighter aeroplanes, three Southampton flying boats, 13 officers and 21 airmen of the Royal Air Force will participate in the display in question. In addition, one single-seater fighter aeroplane, three two-seater or multi-seater aeroplanes, two seaplanes, six officers and five airmen will visit the display.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for India whether he has received any further Reports of the Hindu-Moslem affray which occurred at Larkona, Upper Sind, on the morning of 30th March; how many persons have now succumbed to their injuries; and whether he is now in a position to make a full statement thereon?

I have received a full Report which shows that, although a considerable number of persons received injuries— mostly slight— and one succumbed, this occurrence, though regrettable, was not very serious.

asked the President of the Board of Education whether his attention has been called to cases in which parents persistently refuse to send children to school although proceedings are taken at regular intervals and the maximum fines inflicted; and whether, if the law provides no remedy, he will consider legislation?

The remedy provided by the law in such cases is that contained in Section 45 of the Education Act, 1921.

asked the Minister of Agriculture whether he will consider including in any future issues of the Report on the Agricultural Output of England and Wales the following information: the division of pasture land into good meadow land, down land, and rough grazings, and the elimination of the term

If the hon. Member has in mind members of the electrical trade, I would refer him to the answer given to the hon. Member for Camberwell North (Mr. Ammon) on 4th May, a copy of which I am sending to him. If, however, he has other cases in mind, perhaps he would communicate with me.

asked the. Minister of Labour the number of persons on the register of the Leith Employment Exchange on 30th. April, 1927, together with comparable figures for the corresponding period last year, showing the persons normally in regular employment, wholly unemployed, or temporarily stopped, also persons normally in casual employment, giving the separate figures for men, boys, women and girls?

The following table gives the information desired:temporary pastures unless such land will probably be ploughed again; a better comparison of the numbers of stock now and during the War years, when allowance must be made for ploughed-up pasture, since the present method of showing the number of sheep and cattle per acre can only be reliable in regard to pre-War years; the inclusion of a new table showing the average price for each month of the year of the different kinds of cakes, meals, such as linseed, cotton, groundnut, etc., so that there should be some indication of the best month in which to place contracts for these various commodities; and whether, for the purpose of the returns in the Report, steps can be taken to obtain compulsory figures from farmers now that agriculture is becoming more stable?

I will certainly consider the various suggestions made by my hon. and gallant Friend in the preparation of the next Report on the Agricultural Output of England and Wales, which in the normal course will appear in 1931.

asked the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs the number of migrants (balance outwards) from this country to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, respectively, from the 1st January, 1926, to the latest available dates, and the figures for the corresponding periods in 1913, 1924, and 1925, and the amounts actually expended under the Empire Settlement Act in 1924, 1925, and 1926, and the estimated expenditure under that Act for the current year?

(1) The outward balance of British migrants to Canada, Australia and New Zealand for the calendar years 1913, 1924, 1925 and 1926 was as follows:

— —	1913.	1924.	1925.	1926.
Canada	164,566	47,194	24,723	39,151
Australia	44,428	30,304	27,269	36,914
New Zealand	11,809	8,740	9,766	14,393
	220,803	86,238	61,758	90,458

(2) The expenditure under the Empire Settlement Act for the last three financial years is as follows:

				£
1924–5	…	…	…	423,622
1925–6	…	…	…	569,875
1926–7	…	…	…	1,129,315*
* Provisional, subject to final adjustment of accounts.

The estimated expenditure for the financial year 1927–8 is £1,576,200.

asked the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs whether the Report of the Irish Grants Committee set up by His Majesty's Government to grant compensation to Irish loyalists, in accordance with the recommendations made by Lord Dunedin last October, has been received; and, if so, when compensation to be made thereunder is to be paid?

The reply to the first part of the question is in the negative, and I would refer my hon. Friend to the latter part of the answer which I gave to the hon. Member for Devonport (Mr. Hore-Belisha) on 17th February last. As regards the second part of the question, in a number of cases the Committee have recommended that interim payments should be made forthwith; and these recommendations have in every case been accepted and the amounts so recommended have been paid.

asked the Minister of Transport the amount of the estimated expenditure from the Road Fund during the current financial year in respect of payments towards cost of maintenance and improvement work on Class 1 and 2 roads; payments towards cost of maintenance and improvement work on unclassified roads; payments towards commitments on road works for the relief of unemployment; payments towards commitments for new or other improvement schemes; and any other payments towards the cost of highways or bridges?

The sums allocated from the Road Fund to the different purposes indicated in the question have not yet been finally determined.

asked the Minister of Transport the position of the Road Fund as at the 31st March last, after allowing for the transference of £12,000,000, in accordance with the Budget Resolutions?

I have been asked to reply. It is not quite clear what information my hon. Friend requires, but the terms of the Budget Resolution show that the proposal is to transfer a sum equal to the total of the cash balance and investments of the Road Fund as they stood at the 31st of March last.

asked the Minister of Health if the City of Bath has yet set up the advisory committee to control the design of buildings, as they are empowered to do under the Bath Corporation Act, 1994; and whether similar committees have yet been set up at Ruislip and Oxford?

Bath obtained the powers in 1925; the Council have not yet established an advisory committee, pending the settlement of new by-laws. Oxford have not obtained similar powers, but propose to do so in their town-planning scheme. The Ruislip-Northwood Council, under a town-planning scheme of 1914, may require alterations in the elevation of buildings; if there is a dispute, the matter is to be settled by an arbitrator appointed by the President of the Royal Institute of British Architects. There is no advisory committee.

asked the Minister of Health whether, in view of the fact that the small-pox cases removed to hospital from Hendon and Golders Green were originally reported as being very mild, he can throw any light on the fatal result in half of them?

I do not know to what reports the hon. Member refers. I am informed that the first of these cases was relatively mild, but that most of the others were severe.

asked the Minister of Health whether the Weir and Atholl systems of steel construction for houses have yet been submitted for expert investigation by the Building Research Board; and, if so, when the reports on these systems will be published?

The Weir system was examined in detail and reported upon in November, 1924, by the committee presided over by Sir Ernest Moir, which consisted largely of experts, and it has not been thought necessary to refer that method of construction to any other body for consideration. The Atholl system was recently examined by officers of my Department, and the Department of Building Research with a view to fixing a loan period for houses built in accordance with it, but I have not yet received their report.

asked the Minister of Health whether, in those cases of infectious disease where there is uncertainty regarding the complaint from which a patient is suffering and the medical officer of health is called in to decide, the patient's doctor or the medical officer receives the notification fee?

I am advised that in such a case the medical officer of health would not be entitled to a notification fee, but if the patient's doctor notified the case he would receive the usual fee.

asked the Minister of Health whether the regional medical inspectors, when called in to diagnose cases of suspected small-pox, receive any fee for their work?

It is no part of the duties of the regional medical officers of the Ministry to assist in the diagnosis of suspected cases of small-pox, and the question therefore does not arise.