asked the Minister of Health whether the Ryde, Isle of Wight, local authority has undertaken any housing scheme under conditions laid down by recent Acts of Parliament; if so, what number of houses have been built; and what amount of financial asistance has been given to the said authority?

The Ryde Town Council are assisting the erection of houses by private enterprise under the Housing Act, 1923, towards which an Exchequer subsidy of £6 per house for 20 years is payable. Up to the present, 31 houses have been completed. The council have carried out no other schemes under the Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act, 1919, and later Acts.

asked the Minister of Health whether he is aware that there are more than 600 empty dwelling-houses within the area of the city of Bristol; whether he has any information with regard to the number of empty houses in the other large centres of the country; and whether he will call for a return from the principal local authorities showing the number of empty dwelling-houses at the present time and the approximate loss in rates to the local authorities?

The answers to the first two parts of the question are in the negative. With regard to the last part, I do not consider that the value of such a return as the hon. Member suggests would be commensurate with the labour and expense involved in its compilation.

asked the Minister of Health where in the county of Durham schemes of housing by direct labour have taken place either by local authorities or His Majesty's Office of Works?

The following statement gives the names of the local authorities in whose areas the schemes referred to have been carried out:

• Annfield Plain Urban District.
• Benfieldside Urban District.
• Blaydon Urban District.
• Chester-le-Street Urban District.
• Chester-le-Street Rural District.
• Durham Rural District.
• Easington Rural District.
• Felling Urban District.
• Gatehsead County Borough.
• Hartlepool Metropolitan Borough.
• Hebburn Urban District.
• Houghton-le-Spring Urban District.
• Jarrow Metropolitan Borough.
• Lanchester Rural District.
• Leadgate Urban District.
• Seaham Harbour Urban District.
• Sedgefield Rural District.
• Stanley Urban District.
• Sunderland County Borough.
• Washington Urban District.
• West Hartlepool County Borough.
• Willington Urban District.

asked the Minister of Health the number of houses now being built by private enterprise for working-class families only, indicating in each case whether they are receiving the subsidy or not?

I have no information as to the intended occupancy of houses which are under construction by private enterprise. I may mention, however, that 45,495 subsidy houses were under construction in England and Wales by private enterprise on the 1st instant, but statistics are not available as to the number under construction without State assistance.

asked the Minister of Health whether he is aware that a number of local authorities, in advertising appointments under the Rating and Valuation Act, require, ab initio, that applicants should be members of the Surveyors' Institution; and whether he will take steps to see that qualified rating surveyors who are members of such bodies as the Rating Surveyors' Association, the Incorporated Society of Auctioneers and Landed Property Agents, or the Auctioneers' Institute shall be afforded an equal opportunity of securing such posts?

Under the Rating and Valuation Act, 1925, local authorities are empowered to appoint valuation officers and other officers as they think fit, and to pay those officers such reasonable salaries as they think fit. I have no control over such appointments, and I could not, therefore, take any such steps as my hon. Friend suggests.

asked the Minister of Health the number of typhoid fever cases that have been notified during the recent outbreak in the Gravesend district; and whether a representative of the Ministry has visited the town?

39 cases of this disease have been notified in the borough of Gravesend during the past five weeks. The answer to the last part of the question is in the affirmative.

asked the Secretary of State for War if he has any information as to the total number of troops, including marines and airmen of all nationalities, now stationed at Tientsin and Peking?

According to the latest available information, the approximate strength of the Legation Guards at Peking is 1,600, and that of the troops at Tientsin is 6,850.

asked the Secretary of State for War the total number of soldiers invalided under the age of 21 years for valvular disease of the heart during each of the last five years for which statistics are available?

The information is as follows:

asked the Minister off Labour when it is proposed to introduce the Bill which has been prepared and based upon the Report of the Blanesburgh Committee?

I have nothing to add to the reply which I gave to the hon. Member for Camlachie (Mr. Stephen) on 2nd June.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for India the amount that it is proposed should be expended on the painting and decoration of New Delhi; and whether it is proposed that this work should be done by Indian artists and craftsmen, or by artists specially brought over from England?

I presume that the question has reference to Government House at New Delhi. As far as I am aware no separate estimate of the cost of painting and decoration has been prepared. The method in which the work is to be carried out is still under consideration.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for India whether he will give figures showing what amount of the total coal-fuel requirements of the railways and other enterprises under the control of the Government of India are purchased in India; and whether it is the policy of the Government of India and the enterprises under their control in making purchases to give a preference to coal produced in India to that produced elsewhere where the difference in price and quality is not extravagant?

More than 99 per cent. of the coal used by the Indian railways is Indian coal. The amount of coal used by Government for other purposes is comparatively trifling, but the proportion of Indian coal is probably about the same as on the railways. The policy of the Government of India is as stated in the last part of the question.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for India whether he can give particulars of the representations sent to the Secretary of State for India early in May by the European Association, Calcutta, expressing the opinion that the appointment of an entirely outside authority to examine the working of the reformed Government would be in the best interests of India: and whether any reply has been sent to their representations and the terms of such reply?

My Noble Friend received in March last a representation from this association urging the view indicated in the question, and he requested the Government of India to inform the association that the document had been duly received.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty what duties are performed by the Paymaster Director-General?

The duties of the Paymaster Director-General are set out in his instructions, a copy of which I am sending to my hon. and gallant Friend. Briefly, his duties may be said to be as follows:Advises on all questions connected with the entry, appointment, examination, duties and conditions of service of officers of the accountant and supply branches, and on the same questions (except appointment) of men of those branches.Keeps records of service of all accountant officers and rosters for promotion to Warrant rank.Advices on all questions with regard to the organisation of internal arrangements of the galleys, bakeries, issue rooms and store rooms, and on cooking and messing arrangements generally.

asked the Secretary of State for Air what sums have been realised by sales of airship material and stores since the adoption of the present airship scheme?

The receipts have been, approximately, £14,000.

asked the Attorney-General if he will give the names and addresses of the members of the advisory committee acting with the Lord Lieutenant of the County of London for the purpose of recommending justices of the peace for the said county; and will he state for what periods they are appointed and the date of such appointments?

The London advisory committee was appointed on the 1st January, 1924, for a term of six years, subject to a condition that approximately half the members should retire at the end of the first three years. Nineteen of the members retired on the 31st December last. Fifteen of these have been re-appointed for six years, and four new members have been appointed to the remaining vacancies.The present members of the committee are:

asked the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs whether he is aware that a number of men leave this country for the Colonies accompanied by women who are not their wives and deserting their legal wives and children; and will he say whether there are any facilities for controlling the departure of such persons in the case of State-assisted schemes of emigration?

Every precaution is taken in connection with applications under State-aided schemes of migration to obviate the possibility of a married man being assisted to proceed overseas with a woman who is not his wife, and cases of this nature are of very rare occurrence under these schemes.

asked the Minister of Pensions whether the refusal of a major operation is in any circumstances prejudicial to a pensioner's claim for reassessment of his pension; whether, in the case of Mr. E. M. Maton, of 9, Monkton Place, Ramsgate, the recommendation to operative treatment at Queen Mary's Hospital, Roehampton, last month is not regarded as restoring the Ministry's view of Mr. Maton's condition from the time of his previous operation in April, 1924, until November last year, when there was a reported recovery of 10 per cent.; and whether he will cause a reinvestigation of the case in the light of the new evidence afforded by X-ray examination and treatment in hospital?

The penalty provided under Article 4 of the Warrant by way of direct reduction of pension would not be applied in such a case, but a claim to an actual increase of pension on account of an increase of disablement following on the refusal of a course of treatment, considered by my medical officers to be both advisable and reasonable, could not be admitted. The condition which was found in hospital last month does not show that the assessment given in November and confirmed by the Medical Appeal Board in December was incorrect, and there are no grounds for a re-investigation.

asked the Minister of Pensions whether he is aware that in more than one case in the Bristol district widows have been informed that their need pensions would be reduced on the ground that a son, or an adopted son, must be regarded as a potential contributor towards the widow's support; and whether, seeing that in each case the potential contributor is unemployed and without financial means, and that there is no immediate prospect of securing work, he will cause the official decision in each case to be reviewed?

An exceptional case in which unemployment was due to permanent physical incapacity would be specially considered. But, as I have before pointed out, the conditions on which this class of pension is awarded, and on which alone awards can be stabilised, are based on the support which the deceased son, along with other sons, would reasonably be expected to give as a regular matter, and do not admit of readjustments of the liability of the State in accordance with merely temporary fluctuations of circumstance.

asked the Minister of Pensions in how many instances the requests of ex-service pensioners for metal limbs to replace wooden ones, owing to the discomfort of the latter, have been refused; and whether such requests are always granted when the wooden limb is beyond repair?

I have no record of the number of cases referred to in the first part of the question. With regard to the second part, the question of the type of limb to be supplied is in all cases governed by the same considerations whether on the occasion of initial supply, or on renewal, namely, the type which, in the opinion of my medical advisers, is called for by the requirements of the case, or is best suited to it. In this connection, I would refer to the answer which I gave to the hon. and gallant Member for St. Pancras on the 24th March last, of which I am sending the hon. Member a copy.

asked the Home Secretary how many prison hospital officers were offered promotion and did not accept the post of hospital principal officer at Dartmoor; how many declined; and the number against whom disciplinary action was taken involving forfeiture of promotion to this rank?

The number of officers who declined the offer of promotion to this post at Dartmoor is three. No question of disciplinary action arises, but one of the three officers who failed to give reasons satisfactory to his superiors will not in the ordinary course be considered again for such promotion.

asked the Home Secretary the number of counties which have adopted the by-laws under the Advertisements Regulations Act; and whether he will bring to the notice of those who have not done so the desirability of taking this step?

32 counties have passed by-laws under the Act of 1925; in 23 of these cases the by-laws have been confirmed, in the remaining nine the procedure required by the Act is not yet completed. Draft by-laws have also been provisionally approved for six other counties, but, as far as I am aware, not yet formally passed. The question whether by-laws are required in a particular county is one within the discretion of the local authority in the first instance, and I should be unwilling to bring any pressure to bear upon them in the matter. I have no reason to doubt that local authorities are fully aware of their powers under the Act.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether, in view of the serious state of affairs in the iron and steel trade, the Government are prepared to set up a committee to consider the question?

The committee under the chairmanship of Sir Arthur Balfour is at present inquiring into the conditions and prospects of British industry and commerce generally, and I have no reason to think that any useful purpose would be served by setting up a special committee for the iron and steel trades.

asked the Minister of Agriculture if, in view of the grave position of agriculture in the country, he will say when he will introduce the credits scheme?

I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply which I gave to him in answer to a similar question on the 23rd May, to which I have nothing to add.