asked the Minister of Labour if he has received a letter signed by the British members of the crew of the s.s. "Baron Fairlie," owned by Messrs. H. Hogarth and Company, Limited, Barron Line Steamers, of Glasgow, protesting against the signing on of a lascar crew and thereby displacing British seamen; and if he proposes to take any action in the matter?

I have been asked to reply. The letter to which my hon. Friend refers reached me to-day. I will make inquiries in the matter, and let him know the result

asked the Minister of Labour the number of persons, specifying men, women, boys, and girls, on the Devonport Employment Exchange for the month of April?

The following Table shows the number of persons on the registers of the Devonport Employment Exchange at each Monday in April.

asked the Secretary of State for Air, (1) the cause of the accident in which the aeroplane attached to No. 2 flying training school at Digby, Lincolnshire, crashed at Templebruer, near Sleaford, on Tuesday, 3rd May, causing the death of a pilot officer; whether an inquiry has been held; and if he can give full particulars about it;(2) If an inquiry has been held into the accident which occurred at Netheravon aerodrome on Monday, 2nd May, in which an aeroplane, No. DH 9, fell from a very considerable height and was completely destroyed; and if he can give the House the result of the inquiry?

I am not prepared to give the information requested by the hon. Member, whom I must refer to my replies to his previous questions of 6th April and 4th May in regard to earlier accidents.

asked the Secretary of State for Air what are the designations of all the grades and appointments of established civil servants under the administration of the Air Ministry; 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, and what are the numbers of such persons in such categories; how many persons are there doing similar work to the above grades but who 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 Secretary of State for Air 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 s employed by the Air Ministry, and in what capacities?

As regards the first part of the question, the lowest grade or appointment which carries establishment (i.e., pension) rights is that of messenger. As regards the second part, the total number of civilian employé s of all grades, both at headquarters and at outstations, is 9,881, classifiable as follows:

Administrative, executive and clerical	2,150
Professional, scientific and technical	1,392
Others (mainly industrial)	6,339

If my hon. and gallant Friend should have any doubts as to the comparability of these figures with those supplied by other Departments, I should be obliged if he would be good enough to refer to me on the matter.

asked the Minister of Health whether the houses on the St. Giles's Estate, Lincoln, formerly owned by His Majesty's Government, come within the provisions of the Rent Restriction Acts; and, if not, whether the conditions of sale between the Government and the present owners included any restrictions on the rents or the sale price of these houses?

With regard to the first part, this estate was sold to a private company in 1925, and the question as to whether any of the houses come within the provisions of the Rent Restriction Acts is in each case a matter involving questions of law for settlement between the present landlords and tenants. In reply to the last part, the estate was sold subject to the tenancies and rights and claims of the tenants by Statute or otherwise.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, as representing the First Commissioner of Works, what will be the cost of the work now in preparation in cleaning the Foreign Office archway; and whether this work is being done by private contract?

The cost of the work is £ 20, and it is being carried out under the London Maintenance. Contract.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty how much money was actually spent on private firms out of the Navy Estimates and how much on His Majesty's dockyards for comparable work for the years 1913, 1914, 1925, and 1926, respectively?

The approximate amounts expended in the dockyards for shipbuilding and repair work were £ 9,330,000 in 1913, £ 13,894,000 in 1914, £ 11,425,000 in 1925 and £ 11,750,000 in 1926 as against the amounts paid to private firms for comparable work of £ 8,721,000, £ 22,967,000, £ 3,674,000 and £ 3,650,000. The amounts expended in the dockyards, however, include the sums of £ 5,745,000, £ 8,645,000, £ 4,068,000 and £ 4,825,000 for materials, machinery, gun mountings, etc., originally purchased from contractors.

asked the Minister of Agriculture whether he has received a resolution from the council of the borough of Southwark asking him to make the order contemplated by Section 2 of the Importation of Animals Act, 1922, authorising the importation into Great Britain of non-tubercular Canadian cows and heifers; and what action he is taking in the matter?

The answer to the first part is in the affirmative. With regard to the second part, I would refer the hon. and gallant Member to the reply which I gave to a similar Question which was addressed to me on the 7th April last by the hon. Member for the Forest of Dean (Mr. Purcell).

asked the Minister of Agriculture whether he is yet considering the advisability of authorising the importation into Great Britain of non-tubercular Canadian cows and heifers, under the terms of Section 2 of the Importation of Animals Act, 1922?

For reasons given in previous answers, I am not prepared to re-open the settlement arrived at in 1923 at the Imperial Economic Conference.