asked the Financial Secretary to the War Office the amount per head of population distributed in Service pensions in 1926–27?

The cost of Army pensions and retired pay a head of the population of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, based on the 1921 and 1926 Census figures, respectively, is approximately 3s. 2d.

asked the Minister of Pensions the amount per head of population distributed in war pensions for 1926–27?

The expenditure of my Department during the financial year 1926–27 amounted to £l 8s. 8d. per head of the population. This figure includes the cost of administration, which may be taken to been 7¾d. to each £1 of benefit expenditure.

asked the Secretary of State for war whether seeing that king's Regulations provide that officers that may stable private horses in excess of establishment at the barracks where they are stationed he will say whether the cost in borne by the officer?

provided on extra cost to public funds is incurred on charge in made for the stabling of officers' private horses in excess of establishment in stables which would otherwise be unoccupied.

asked the secretary of State for war whether he is aware that A reservists returned from china are unable to get their previous employment and that the list of possible employers given to them on their return has bee of on use to many; and what is the intention of the Government towards the men concerned?

I regret that a considerable number of Section A reservists, some of whom were in employment before they left for China, have up to the present been unable to find re-employment. But the National Association for the Employment of Ex-Regular Sailors, Soldiers and Airmen and the Soldiers' and Sailors' Help Society are continuing to do all they can to place those men who register their names, and I trust that employers will do their utmost to co-operate with those associations in finding work for these men.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty the total number of personnel employed in training establishments on the 1st January, 1913, and the 1st January, 1928?

I am afraid that a complete answer to the question to cover all naval establishments in which officers and men undergo training would probably be impossible, and would in any case involve a disproportionate amount of clerical work. If my hon. Friend will let me know what particular type of training establishment he has in mind, I will see whether the figures can be obtained.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty if his attention has been called to the case of Able-Seaman Edward William Trotter, who has been sentenced to six months' detention by a naval Court Martial for striking an officer of the Royal Marines; and, if so, whether he intends taking any action, seeing that the officer admitted having made unbecoming remarks to Trotter which provoked him to commit the offence?

The degree of provocation was taken into account when the sentence was awarded.

asked the Secretary of State for Air the total number of personnel employed at the Air Ministry under the following headings: military, civilian and the total number of Air Force staff employed of the rank of flight-commander and higher ranks, respectively, on the 1st January, 1928?

The numbers asked for are as follow: Service personnel, 14S; civilian, 1,671; Air Force officers of rank of flight-lieutenant (there being no rank of flight-commander) and higher ranks, 126.

asked the Home Secretary whether his attention has been drawn to the case of John G. Atmore, who was sentenced to two months' imprisonment last October by the Feltham justices for arrears of maintenance, with the result that he is now homeless, penniless and helpless; and if he will consider his case, with a view to a reduction of the sentence?

My right hon. Friend finds, upon inquiry, that Atmore was sentenced to two months' and to one months' imprisonment for default in payment of arrears of wife maintenance and of rates. Atmore did not petition from prison. The Home Secretary has no power to interfere in these civil cases, and, in any event, Atmore was discharged from prison on the 21st December last.

asked the Home Secretary the number of executions in Great Britain for the periods 1925–26 and 1926–27, respectively?

The number of executions in Great Britain was, in 1925, 20; in 1926, 16; in 1927, 16.

asked the Home Secretary the amount per head of population distributed in police pensions for 1926–27?

The figure for England and Wales is approximately 2s. 2d.

asked the Home Secretary whether his attention has been called to the conditions under which women and girls are employed in the sack-sewing and bobbin-filling departments in a. factory at Kirremuir, Forfar-shire; and, seeing that there is no heating system in these departments, although repeated complaints of cold have been made to the management, what steps will he take to have satisfactory atmospheric conditions in their employment secured to these women and girls?

My right hon. Friend find on inquiry that this matter has already been taken up with the management by the factory inspector, and that the management have arranged to provide a steam-heating system in the departments mentioned. Pipes have been ordered, and will be installed as soon as delivered.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether his attention has been called to the fact that the Education Authority for Stirlingshire granted to several ladies in the Denny-loanhead district an honorarium of £4 10s. for services voluntarily rendered in connection with the feeding of necessitous school children, and that tne clerk or treasurer to the education authority deducted from each honorarium a sum of 16s. for health insurance; seeing that the Scottish Board of Health has now given a ruling that these deductions were illegally made, will he see that the sums deducted are paid over to their rightful owners without further expense or delay; and if he will inquire whether this practice Has been adopted elsewhere in Scotland?

I am informed that the Scottish Board of Health received a recent inquiry from the Insurance Committee for the County of Stirling regarding the liability to compulsory insurance of one lady who had given voluntary services of the kind referred to, and whose honorarium from the Stirlingshire Education Authority had been reduced by the amount stated in name of insurance contributions. In reply the Board indicated that if in this case the services were rendered voluntarily no contributions were payable. In the circumstances of this and any similar cases an application from the education authority for a refund would receive the Board's favourable consideration, and any necessary adjustment would then fall to be made between the parties themselves. I have no knowledge of similar deductions having been made elsewhere in Scotland.

asked the Minister of Health whether there is any record of the number of cottages destroyed or damaged during the recent storms and the number of applications, if any, made in connection therewith under the Housing (Rural Workers) Act for assistance towards rebuilding or reinstatement?

I have no statistics in my Department in regard to the matter referred to by my hon. Friend.

asked the Minister of Health the number of small-pox cases that have been notified, and in which districts these have been certified, for the three months ended the 31st January, 1928?

I would refer the hon. Member to the weekly returns of births, deaths and infectious diseases issued by the Registrar-General, in which these particulars will be found.

asked the Minister of Health what was the total amount of funds invested, directly or indirectly, on behalf of approved societies under the National Health Insurance Act on the 31st December in each of the years 1923, 1924, 1925, 1926, and 1927; and, if the information is not available for the 31st December, 1927, what was the amount of the funds so invested on the last available date?

The approximate amount of funds invested, including the temporary investment of current balances on the 31st December in each of the years specified was as follows:

asked the Minister of Health the amounts available for investments by the approved societies in respect of each of the last three years?

The amounts available for investments by the approved societies (inclusive of the sums placed to the credit of societies in the Investment Account), after meeting out of current income the cost amounting to over £8,000,000 a year of schemes of additional benefits following the second valuation were in respect of each of the last three years approximately as follow:

asked the Minister of Health the number of persons who have become voluntary contributors under the Health Insurance scheme consequent upon the passing of the Widows', Orphans', and Old Age Contributory Pensions Act; and, if so, how does the number compare with the actuary's calculations when the Act was passed?

The number of persons who became up to the end of 1926 voluntary contributors, consequent on the passing of the Widows', Orphans', and Old Age Contributory Pensions Act, is estimated at 150,000, or about 10 per cent, more than the number assumed in the Government Actuary's calculations for the purpose of the Bill.

asked the Minister of Health if he will state the recent increase separately in percentages in sickness, disablement, and maternity benefits paid under the National Health Insurance scheme in England, Scotland and Wales, respectively, giving the figures, if possible, for males and females separately?

A statement giving such information as is available as regards England and Wales will be prepared and sent to the hon. Member. As regards Scotland, it is suggested that a question be put to the Secretary of State.

asked the Minister of Health the average daily number of persons maintained in workhouses; the average weekly cost per person; the total amount expended in connection with the institutions; the number of adults maintained; the number of children under 16; and the total number of officers and staff employed in 1926–27?

The latest information available as regards the maintenance of persons in general Poor Law institutions in England and Wales (that is, institutions other than those wholly appropriated to the sick and mentally infirm and establishments for children in cases where separate accounts are kept) relates to the year ended 31st March, 1926, and such of the particulars asked for as can be given are, in respect of that year, as follow:

Average daily number of inmates, 134,418.

Average weekly cost per inmate, 24s. 2d.

Total expenditure in connection with those institutions, £8,469,749.

The average daily number of adults and children in these institutions has not been ascertained; but the numbers on the 1st January, 1926, were 123,373 adults and 11,075 children under 16 years of age. I regret that I am unable to give the numbers of the staff employed.

asked the Minister of Health the number of persons in receipt of out-door relief from the Poor Law guardians in the Borough of Camberwell for the weeks ended the 7th, 14th and 31st January, 1928, respectively?

The numbers of persons in receipt of out-door relief (other than persons in receipt of medical relief only) chargeable to the guardians of the poor of the Parish of Camberwell on the 7th, 14th and 28th January, 1928, were G,815, 9,465 and 9,303, respectively.

asked the Minister of Transport if his attention has been drawn to the increasing number of road accidents caused by transport drivers falling asleep while at the wheel owing to the prevailing conditions of long periods of continuous employment; and whether, in any subsequent legislation, he will provide for restrictions limiting the period of their daily work to eight hours?

I am aware that accidents have been alleged to be due to this cause, but I do not think that conditions of service can appropriately be dealt with in legislation connected with the regulation of vehicles and of traffic on roads.

asked the Minister of Transport whether he has knowledge of any contracts entered into by local authorities for road improvement schemes, towards the cost of which his Department is contributing, containing a clause that men recently engaged in agriculture are not to be employed by the contractor; and if such a clause has received his approval?

The answer to both parts of the question is in the negative.

asked the Minister of Transport whether any road schemes are being held up in consequence of there being no money in the Road Fund?

The hon. Member's suggestion that there is no money in the Road Fund is best answered by the statement that during the current financial year the appropriations available for grants from the Road Fund have reached a higher total than in any previous year.

asked the. Minister of Agriculture the number of sugar-beet factories which have been actually built and are in receipt of the subsidy, and indicate at the same time the numbers and names of those which are in process of formation?

Nineteen beet-sugar factories have been built in Great Britain, all of which are in receipt of subsidy except one factory, working the desiccation process, which has not yet submitted claims. There are schemes for the erection in 1928 of beet-sugar factories at Brigg (Lincolnshire), Chichester (Sussex), and Bridgwater (Somerset).

asked the Minister of Agriculture what steps are taken to prevent lorries and carts passing through the country with skins and hides from districts infected with foot-and-mouth disease?

From time to time the Ministry has been pressed to prohibit the movement out of a foot-and-mouth infected area of almost all forms of agricultural produce such as carcases of animals, hides and skins, dairy produce and poultry, hay, straw, roots and potatoes. Theoretically all these products might convey the disease, but in practice there is no convincing evidence that they do. It would be illogical to prohibit hides and skins being taken out of an area unless the carcases of animals from which they were taken were also prohibited. To prohibit carcases would largely prevent the farmer disposing of his fat animals, as he may not move them out of an area alive, and to prohibit hides and skins would mean their heavy depreciation in value or even destruction, as few, if any, slaughterhouses are equipped for the retention of hides for long periods.

asked the President of the Board of Education the number of retired public elementary school teachers in England and Wales whose pensions are less than £50 a year whose pensions are £50 a year or more but less than £100 a year, and whose pensions are £ a year or more, respectively?

I will send my hon. and learned friend as soon as possible such particulars as are at the disposal of my Department.