asked the Minister of Labour how many insured persons have been refused benefit at the Darlington Employment Exchange during the last six months, and the reasons for such refusals?

The following is a statement showing the reasons for the disallowance of applications for extended benefit^* considered by the Darlington Local Employment Committee in the six months ended 12th March, 1928:

Not normally insurable and not seeking to obtain a livelihood by means of insurable employment	37
Insurable employment not likely to be available	34

Not a reasonable period of insurable employment during the preceding two years	159
Not making every reasonable effort to obtain suitable employment or not willing to accept suitable employment	282
Single persons residing with relatives	136
Working short-time but earning sufficient for maintenance	24
Postponed for a definite period	100
Total number of applications considered	4881
*Corresponding figures in respect of applications for standard benefit are not available.

asked the Minister of Labour the number of boys and girls, between the ages of 14 and 16, registered at the Employment Exchanges during the past year to the most convenient date; and the number who have been found employment?

Statistics are not available in respect of juveniles between the ages of 14 and 16. During the year ended 20th February, 1928, 150 vacancies for boys under 18 and 185 for girls under 18 were filled by the Darlington Employment Exchange. The following statement shows the numbers of juveniles between the ages of 14 and 18 on the registers of that Exchange on one Monday of each month during the year ended 12th March, 1928:

Date	Boys.	Girls.
11th April, 1927	48	79
16th May, 1927	88	104
13th June, 1927	88	96
llth July, 1927	110	69
15th August, 1927	114	102
12th September, 1927	124	128
17th October, 1927	102	137
14th November, 1927	86	103
12th December, 1927	66	96
16th January, 1928	84	85
13th February, 1928	104	119
12th March, 1928	103	126

asked the Minister of Labour whether he is aware that persons in receipt of unemployed insurance benefit and following a subsidiary occupation ordinarily followed before unemployed in the insured industry, and in general sub- scribing to Section 7 (2) of the Unemployment Insurance Act, 1920, as regards the amount of remuneration received, are being threatened in one instance with suspension of benefit or prosecution unless the subsidiary occupation is given up; and will he draw the attention of his local officials to the provisions of the said Section?

I am not aware of any such case, but if the hon. Member has any case in mind in which he thinks the provisions of Section 7 (2) (a) of the Unemployment Insurance Act, 1920, have been misapplied, and will let me have particulars, I will have inquiries made.

asked the Minister of Labour how many firms in the city of Leicester are on the King's Roll; and what is the minimum number of disabled ex-service men that they are pledged to employ and the number that they actually do employ?

The number of firms in Leicester on the King's Roll is 297. Their aggregate total staff is 48,584, including 2,713 disabled ex-Service men, or an aggregate percentage of 5.6. The normal percentage for enrolment is 5.

asked the Minister of Labour what efforts are being made to enrol those firms who are not at present on the King's Roll?

Special local committees, with which the head of the local authority is usually associated, are continuing their efforts to obtain the enrolment of additional firms on the King's Roll. There are 243 such committees throughout the country. In areas where a special committee is not regarded as necessary, sub-committees of the Employment Committee carry on the work. The efforts of all committees are co-ordinated by the King's Roll National Council which meets periodically in London. The committees carry out their work in ways which they regard as best suited to the circumstances of the locality, but generally by meetings, by circular appeals and by personal canvassing. The number of local authorities, Royal Warrant holders and public utility companies of any appreciable size not on the Roll is now only 32, 23 and 47 respectively. Special efforts are, however, continued, from time to time, both locally and centrally, to secure the enrolment of these employers and of any others who appear to be such as should be on the Roll. As my hon. and gallant Friend will be aware, Government contracts are restricted, save in exceptional circumstances, to enrolled firms. This practice is also followed by nearly 600 public bodies.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether it is still proposed to close the mercantile marine office at North Shields; and, if so, when he is likely to come to a decision on the matter?

After careful consideration of all the circumstances, the Board of Trade have decided not to proceed further at present with the proposal to close the mercantile marine office at North Shields.

asked the President of the Hoard of Trade the, number of motor cars that were constructed and produced in Great Britain in 1927 which were assembled from imported components, and give the comparable figures for 1924?

I regret that the information is not available.

asked the Minister of Health whether he will consider the question of so amending the Infectious Disease (Notification) Acts that any suspected infectious disease will have to be reported without awaiting the results of a bacteriological examination, where such disease is infectious in its early stages?

No, Sir. The Acts in question do not require notification to be delayed pending the results of a bacteriological examination, and notifications are frequently made solely as the result of clinical examination.

asked the Minister of Health whether he has received any explanation from the Inter-Departmental Committee upon the Prices of Building Materials as to why the price of blue Bangor slates in London has risen from £9 15s. per 1,200 in April, 1914, to £26 5s. in November, 1927; and why Welsh slates have risen in Birmingham from £8 per 1,200 in 1914 to £24 10s. in 1927?

No, Sir; but I am communicating with the Committee on the matter.

asked the Minister of Health whether, seeing that the wife of a member of an approved society in a mental hospital receives disablement benefit at the rate of 10s. a week, but when the man attains the age of 65 no further benefit is payable from the approved society, and since under the Widows', Orphans' and Old Age Contributory Pensions Act no pension is payable in respect of persons who are inmates of mental hospitals, and wives of these persons who have not attained the age of 65 are, therefore, left unprovided for, he will take steps to amend the law in this particular?

The answer is in the negative. I would point out that it has always been the position under the Old Age Pensions Acts that pension is not payable to a person detained in an asylum within the meaning of the Lunacy Acts. While one effect of the Contributory Pensions Act, 1925, has been to reduce the age at which the position indicated in the question arises from 70 to 65, the Act also provides an old age pension for the wife in right of her husband's insurance as soon as she reaches the age of 65.

asked the Minister of Health whether he is aware of the hardship felt under the Widows', Orphans' and Old Age Contributory Pensions Act, seeing that the wives of men who attained the age of 70 before pensions for persons between the age of 65 and 70 commenced on 2nd January, 1928, and who continued in insurance until they attained that age, are debarred from obtaining an old age pension until they reach the age of 70; and whether he will take steps so to amend the Law as to remove this grievance?

I would refer the hon. Member to my answer on 17th November last to a question on this subject by the hon. Member for Leigh (Mr. Tinker).

asked the Secretary of State for War whether his attention has been drawn to an incident which happened at a court-martial, held at Aldershot on 21st March, which was trying Gunner Howard Bradfield, at which the president insisted that it was necessary for a newspaper reporter, who was present, to be sworn; is he aware that the reporter repeatedly refused to be sworn and quoted King's Regulations; and whether it is now necessary for the members of the public or newspaper reporters to be sworn at courts-martial?

I have received a report on this case. The hon. Member seems to have been misinformed. The president of the Court was in error in requesting that the newspaper reporter should be sworn. He did not, however, insist, and the reporter remained during the trial without having been sworn.

asked the Secretary of State for War whether it is proposed to bring the regiment of cavalry of the line, at present stationed in Egypt, back to England for the process of mechanisation; and whether it is proposed to mechanise the other two cavalry regiments stationed in Egypt?

No, Sir.

asked the Secretary of State for War if the experimental method of issuing amendments to Army Orders notified in June, 1927, has been approved; and whether he is aware that members of the public who purchase Army Orders have found this method both expensive and unsatisfactory?

The new system, to which my hon. and gallant Friend refers, is concerned not with the issue of amendments to Army Orders but with the issue of amendments to books of Army regulations. Formerly such amendments were actually incorporated in Army Orders, but as the distribution of Army Orders does not coincide with the distribution of the various books of regulations, officers and other ranks in possesion of those books had difficulty in keeping them up to date. It was decided therefore as an experimental measure to issue amendments of books of regulations not as part of the Army Orders but as separate leaflets to the holders of the hooks. It is still too early to say definitely whether the advantages of the new system to officers and other ranks of the Army in whose interests it has been introduced are sufficient to justify its continuance.

asked the Minister of Health whether a proposal has been laid before him for the closing of the Woodstock Casual Ward and what will he the distances by road from the Oxford Casual Ward to those of Ban-bury and Chipping Norton; whether he has considered the effect of such distances on men and women of the general stamina of casuals who will have to perform the appointed task on the following day; and whether he will decline to sanction such proposal?

The distances from the Oxford Casual Ward to the Banbury and Chipping Norton wards are 19 miles and 22 miles, respectively. No definite application for my consent to the closing of the Woodstock ward has yet been made to me. If one is made, I will carefully consider all the relevant circumstances, including the position of any casual ward, other than that at Woodstock, at which these journeys could be broken.

asked the Minister of Health the number of persons, including dependants, at present in receipt of poor relief in the Borough of Southwark; and comparable figures for 1913 and 1921, respectively?

The total number of persons, including dependants, in receipt of Poor Law relief (excluding lunatics in asylums, casuals and persons in receipt of domiciliary medical relief only) in the Southwark Union (which is co-extensive with the borough) on Saturday, 17th March, 1928, was 13,199 as compared with 6,643 and 6,801 on the corresponding dates in 1913 and 1921, respectively.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is taking any steps towards establishing a broadcasting service receivable on sets of moderate cost in such places as West Africa and East and Central African Colonies, where thousands of British citizens are in remote and lonely stations?

I have been asked to answer this question. The difficulty in providing such a service as the hon. and gallant Gentleman desires lies not in the transmission but in the reception. The British Broadcasting Corporation have been conducting almost daily transmissions from their short-wave station 5 SW ever since the 12th of December last, and these programmes have been heard from time to time throughout Africa and elsewhere. I understand from the corporation, however, that prolonged experiments under varying conditions are likely to be required before suitable receiving machinery can be evolved. His Majesty's Government can obviously give little help in this matter, but the Colonial Governments are co-operating to the best of their ability by forwarding reports on local reception.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, as representing the First Commissioner of Works, the name of the company to which the contract for the erection of the new Embassy building in Washington has been given; whether the firm in question submitted the lowest tender; if not, will he state the reason for giving them the contract; and whether he can give any assurance that the work will be done by competent workmen at rates of wages and on conditions of service acceptable to the American building trade unions?

The main contract for the new Washington Embassy has been awarded to the Wardman Construction Company, whose tender was the lowest. The wages and hours of labour, as set out in the contract, are those generally accepted in the district. There is no reason to assume that the workmen employed will not be fully competent.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if there are consultations going on at present between his Department and any foreign Governments for the control of gold and the stabilisation of its price?

The answer is in the negative.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury the number of appointments made from the Southborough examination to the general clerical class and to each of the Departmental clerical classes?

The number of appointments made from the Southborough examination is as follows:

To the General Clerical Classes	3,797
To Departmental Clerical Classes:
Air Ministry	13
County Courts Department	147
Customs and Excise Department	1,069
District High Court Registry	3
District Probate Registry	7
Home Office, Factory Inspectorate	9
Inland Revenue, Office of Chief Inspector of Taxes	1,834
Inland Revenue, Valuation Office	74
Inland Revenue, Collectors	38
Ministry of Labour	715
Royal Mint	5
Board of Trade, Bankruptcy Department	23
Board of Trade, Mercantile Marine Survey Branch	34
War Office	120

asked the Minister of Agriculture the number of live horses exported for food to France, Holland and Belgium during 1924 to 1927?

I have no definite information as to the number of live horses exported to the Continent expressly for slaughter for food. All horses shipped have to be certified by a veterinary inspector of the Ministry at the port of shipment as being fit to travel and fit to work without cruelty. In many cases it is not until after the arrival of the horses on the Continent that their intended destination is determined. The total number of horses exported to France, Holland and Belgium during the years 1924 to 1927 inclusive was:

France	13,080
Belgium	16,565
Holland	24,368

Since the beginning of 1926 the Ministry's inspectors have made inquiries as to the number of horses exported expressly for slaughter for human consumption, and the number falling within that category in the two years 1926 and 1927 was approximately:

France	nil
Belgium	10
Holland	5,444

I am informed that humane methods of slaughter are adopted throughout Holland.

asked the Minister of Labour if his Department possesses any record of the trades and industries where the normal hours of the working week are more than 48; and, if so, will he state the names of such trades and industries, with the number of people employed?

pursuant to his reply [OFFICIAL EFFORT, 26th March, 1928; col. 806, Vol. 215] supplied the following statement:For the following classes of workers there are agreements fixing hours in excess of 48 per week: