asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he has received an application from the light castings trade for a committee to be appointed under the Safeguarding of Industries Act; and what action does he propose to take?

It would be contrary to established practice to say whether or not an application under the safeguarding procedure has been received from any specified industry.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether, in future issues of the Annual Statement of Trade, Sarawak will be substituted for British Borneo as an exporter of Empire oils, to distinguish it from the chartered company?

The answer is in the affirmative.

asked the Minister of Health whether, as legally adopted children do not rank equally for allowance under the Widows', Orphans', and Old Age Contributory Pensions Act with a natural-born child of the contributor under the Act, he will consider introducing amending legislation to provide for such cases?

I have noted the suggestion of the hon. Member for consideration when amending legislation is contemplated. I would, however, remind him that the adoption of a child does not deprive it of its rights under the Contributory Pensions Act by virtue of the insurance of its natural parents.

asked the Minister of Health his reasons for discharging the Voluntary Hospitals Commission; and if he will reconsider his decision, in view of the regret expressed by the Commissioners that they are thus disabled from implementing proposals to which they had devoted much time and attention?

As stated in paragraph 2 of the Final Report of the Voluntary Hospitals Commission, the reasons, with which the Commission concurred, for which the work of the Commission has been concluded, are, first, that there is no prospect of an Exchequer grant in aid of capital expenditure by voluntary hospitals on the provision of new beds; and, secondly, that in the absence of such a grant it would not be justifiable to make further calls on the time and services of the members of the Commission collectively. I am not aware of any ground for reopening the matter.

asked the Minister of Health how many cases of small-pox have been notified during the three months ended to the last convenient date?

The provisional number of notifications of small-pox in England and Wales in the 13 weeks ended 2nd June, 1928, is 4,239.

asked the Minister of Health whether he is in a position to give the number of deaths per 1,000 of the population which have occurred under the head of maternal mortality during the last available periods in the boroughs of Kensington and Southwark, respectively?

The provisional numbers of deaths classified as due to childbirth for the Metropolitan Boroughs of Kensington and Southwark in 1927 amounted respectively to rates of 034 and 049 per 1,000 of the populations of those boroughs. The corresponding rates, according to the more usual calculation per 1,000 live births, were 2.26 and 2.57. respectively.

asked the Minister of Health whether he is aware that the pollution of the River Penk by the corporation of Wolverhampton has been going on for some seven years notwithstanding the protests of the Staffordshire County Council and others; that, after local inquiries held from time to time by the Ministry of Health, certificates have been issued giving the Wolverhampton Corporation special protection under their private Act of 1891 from the provisions of the Public Health Acts and the Rivers Pollution Prevention Act; that prior to 1921 such certificates were given for a period of two years, and that since then, owing to the representation of the Staffordshire County Council and others that the best and only available means of dealing with the sewage were not being used, such certificates have only been given for a period of one year until April last, when after a further inquiry and after strong opposition a certificate was given for only three months; that immediately after the last certificate was issued the corporation of Wolverhampton released a large quantity of crude sewage matter, which had been held up pending the granting of such certificate, thereby polluting the River Penk so as to make it highly offensive to all riparian residents, destroying all fish life throughout its entire course, and entailing risk of damage to lands and cattle over a large area; that, on the Wolverhampton Corporation being summoned by the Trent Fishery Board, the local bench of magistrates decided that they were bound to dismiss the summons owing to the protection afforded by the certificate at present in force; and whether, in view of the period of seven years during which it has been recognised that the Wolverhampton Corporation's method of dealing with their sewage has been unsatisfactory, and which has now become so ineffective that the River Penk, even in its lower reaches, cannot support fish life or be used for agriculture, he will refuse to give the Wolverhampton Corporation further protection under their private Act, so that adequate pressure can be brought upon the corporation to abate the nuisance?

I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply which I gave yesterday to a question on this subject by the hon. Member for Kidderminster (Mr. Wardlaw-Milne).

asked the Minister of Labour (1) the number of men and women who were registered as unemployed from the enamelled hollow-ware trade in April 1926, 1927 and 1928, respectively; (2) The number of men and women registered as employed in the enamelled hollow-ware trade in 1925, 1926, and 1927, respectively?

The enamelled hollow-ware industry is not separately distinguished in the statistics of employment and unemployment derived from the working of the Unemployment Insurance Acts and the information desired is, therefore, not available. Cast hollow-ware is included with stoves, grates, ranges, pipes, etc., to form one group. Wrought hollow-ware is included in the group "Metal industries not separately classified."

asked the Minister of Labour how many insured persons in England and Wales, Scotland, Edinburgh and Leith (Quality Street Exchange), respectively, failed to qualify for unemployment benefit under the provisions of the new Act during the month 19th April to 14th May, 1928.

pursuant to his reply (OFFICIAL REPORT, 23rd May, 1928, col. 1367) supplied the following information:The numbers of claims to unemployment benefit disallowed by the insurance officers in the period 19th April, 1928, to 14th May, 1928, were as follow:

asked the Minister of Labour the number of claims rejected by the insurance officers at the various Glasgow Employment Exchanges, respectively, and, in the case of each ex- change, the number of appeals to the courts of referees by the applicants since the coming into operation of the new Insurance Act.

asked the Minister of Labour the number of claims for unemployment benefit at Bridgeton and Parkhead Exchanges, respectively, since the coming into operation of the new Insurance Act, the number of claims which satisfied the 30-stamps condition, the number of those rejected on not-genuinely-seeking-work grounds, the

, pursuant to his reply (OFFICIAL REPORT, 23rd May, 1928, col. 1865) supplied the following information:number of claims on which the 30-stamps qualification was not satisfied, and the number of those rejected by the insurance officer on not-genuinely-seeking-work or other grounds.

, pursuant to his reply (OFFICIAL REPORT, 23rd May, 1928, col. 1865) supplied the following information: