asked the Under-Secretary of State for India the number of persons at present detained in prison, or otherwise held under restraint, in India under Regulation III of the 1818 Act?

If the hon. Member will be good enough to repeat his question next Monday, I will endeavour to furnish the information he desires.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for India whether the final Report of the Royal Commission on Agriculture in India has been signed and, if so, how long the Report has been in the hands of the Government; and when it is proposed to make public the findings and recommendations of the Royal Commission?

The Report has been signed, and copies were received on 4th June. It will be published to-morrow.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland the value of any foreign goods purchased during the past year by or on behalf of any of the departments he administers; and what percentage this bears to the total?

The following table gives the information for which the hon. Member asks:year 1927–28; the approximate area drained, distinguishing arable from pastoral acres; and what amount will be available for this purpose during the year 1928–29?

The grants paid during the year 1927–28 amounted to £8,371; the approximate areas drained were 2,500 acres of arable land and 40,000 acres of pastoral land; and the amount authorised for the scheme in 1928–29 is £13,012.

asked the Secretary of State for War the reason for the increase from £650, allowed in 1914 to the Secretary of State for private secretaries, to £2,851, the provision made in the Estimates for 1928 for the Secretary of State's personal staff?

The total sum provided for the salaries and allowances of the private secretaries to the Secretary of State in the Estimates for 1914 amounted to £1,620. The comparable figure in the Estimates for 1928 is £2,072, the increase being mainly due to cost-of-living bonus. The £650 in 1914 referred to in the question represented allowances only, and did not cover the normal salaries of the private secretaries, nor did it include the pay of confidential shorthand writers.

asked the Secretary of State for War, seeing that there were only six members of the Army Council in 1914, if he will state the duties and emoluments of the seventh member of the Council for whom provision is made in the current Estimates, and the reason for the increase in the number of members of the Council, having regard to the reduction in the numbers of the Regular and Territorial Armies?

The seventh member of the Army Council is the Permanent Under-Secretary of State for War. He is the permanent civilian head of the War Office, Accounting Officer for Army Votes, and Secretary to the Army Council. His emoluments are £3,000 a year. No new office has been created by this appointment, the only change being that by a decision of the Government in 1920 the permanent civilian head of the Department was made directly responsible to the Secretary of State for the control of expenditure, and for this purpose was given the status of a full member of the Council. The circumstances in which the Government decided upon this step are set out in the Fourth Report of the Public Accounts Committee for 1920 (House of Commons Paper 231).

asked the Secretary of State for War, seeing that in 1914 the Army Estimates provided for a librarian at a cost of £650 and an assistant librarian at £230, if he can state the reason for the provision made in the Estimates for 1928 for one librarian at £672, a deputy-librarian at £432, and an assistant librarian at £279, and a library assistant at £273; and whether there is any other difference between the assistant librarian and the library assistant beyond the fact that the former has a maximum salary of £300, plus bonus, while the latter may only rise to £280?

In 1914 there was, in addition to the Librarian and Assistant Librarian of the General Staff Library to whom the hon. Member refers, a Library Assistant not shown separately in Estimates, as well as a Staff Clerk, shown in Estimates, 1914, under the Secretary's Department, in charge of the Parliamentary and Legal Library. The two libraries were amalgamated in 1919. With regard to the second part of the question, the maximum basic salaries of the Assistant Librarian and the Library Assistant are respectively £300 and £180. The qualifications required of, and the duties performed by, these two grades are in no way comparable.

asked the Minister of Labour how many Southborough entrants are serving in his Department?

The number of Southborough entrants at present serving in the Ministry of Labour is 1,120.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury the number of temporary female and male clerical staffs at present employed in each Government Department in Plymouth and Devonport, respectively?

The particulars asked for are as follow:

asked the Postmaster-General what is the average cost of construction, exclusive of instruments, of a telephone line per mile in rural areas?

The average cost of construction of one mile of subscribers' light-pole route carrying one pair of wires in a rural area is about £80.

asked the Minister of Transport whether since the Port of London Authority reduced its dock dues by 10 per cent. any other ports have made similar reductions; if so, which ports are they; and what is the percentage of the reduction in each case?

I presume that the hon. Member refers to the reductions, amounting to 10 per cent. and upwards, which the Port of London Authority made in their export rates applicable to certain classes of goods as from 1st May last. Dock charges generally are subject to maximum rates specified in Private Acts or Orders and the authorities concerned are free to vary their charges within these limits. I am not, therefore, in a position to furnish the information desired by the hon. Member.

asked the Minister of Transport whether he is aware that shipowners consider that British ports are handicapped, in comparison with Continental ports, by higher charges and slower despatch; and whether he will set up a Committee to inquire into this?

I understand that the matter to which the hon. Member refers has in recent years been the subject of investigations by Committees appointed by the Chamber of Shipping, in conjunction with the Association of the British Chambers of Commerce and the Federation of British Industries and by the Traders' Co-ordinating Committee on Dock Charges. These Committees reported in 1924 and 1926 respectively, and their findings have no doubt received the careful consideration of the dock authorities and others concerned. In the circumstances I see no sufficient ground for instituting a special inquiry into the matter.

asked the Minister of Transport whether he has received any Report with regard to a new crossing of the River Tees by bridge or tunnel from Middlesbrough to the north bank; whether he is aware that there is great congestion across the present transporter; and whether, in view of the importance to Middlesbrough of the growth of new industries on the north bank of the Tees, he will cause some inquiry to be made which will facilitate progress in the matter?

I cannot trace the receipt of such a Report. While I am always prepared to consider schemes submitted by the responsible highway authorities for the improvement of traffic facilities, I feel that the Teeside authorities are capable of investigating the needs of their area without my holding an inquiry.

asked the Home Secretary the number of experiments in vivi- section carried on during 1927, performed with anæsthetics and without anæsthetics, respectively?

There were 13,871 experiments with anæsthetics and 279,431 without anæsthetics. The latter class of experiments were mostly inoculations and feeding experiments and in no case was an operative procedure more severe than simple inoculation allowed without an anæsthetic.

asked the Home Secretary the number of experiments in vivisection performed on animals which were kept alive for observation and/or further experiment; and how many dogs and cats were included in this class of experiment?

I presume that the hon. Member refers to experiments under Certificate B. (i.e., where the experimenter is relieved from the obligation to kill the animal before it recovers from the anæsthetic). There were 7,647 such experiments in 1927, of which 583 were on cats and dogs.

asked the Home Secretary the number of places registered in 1927 in Great Britain for conducting experiments in vivisection, and the number of persons licensed to conduct such experiments.

There were 253 registered places and 1,230 licensed persons.

asked the Home Secretary whether it is proposed to recommend conferring any posthumous recognition in the case of Constable Gutteridge, of the Essex constabulary, who was murdered while in the execution of his duty.

I regret I have not seen my way to make any recommendation.

asked the Minister of Agriculture whether he will institute an inquiry into the causes of the present prices of cotton nets used for pilchard and herring fishing, in view of the complaints of the fishermen on the matter.

As at present advised, I do not see my way to adopt the hon. Member's suggestion. I am satisfied that the present high price of nets is attributable to the cost of cotton, labour and overhead charges, and I do not think that anything material would be added to the information available by an inquiry.

asked the President of the Board of Education how many denominational secondary schools were approved by the Board in 1925, 1926 and 1927, respectively, stating the religious denomination in each case and the number of places in each school.

The number of denominational secondary schools, with number of class room places, respectively, placed on the grant list by my Department in the years referred to was:

1925.—4	Roman Catholic schools: 105, 240, 250, 300.
1926.—3	Roman Catholic schools: 213, 300, 120.
*1	Church of England school: 200.
1927.—5	Roman Catholic schools: 150, 180, 176, 110, 150.
* This school withdrew from the Grant List before any grant was paid.

In addition, the following denominational secondary schools, with number of pupils on 1st October, 1927, respectively, were added to the Board's List of Efficient Secondary schools (not aided by grant):

1925.—5	Church of England schools: 90, 308, 97, 382, 122.
2	Roman Catholic schools: 92, 356.
1926.—2	Church of England schools: 147, 119.
1927.—1	Society of Friends' school: 87.
2	Church of England schools: 110, 273.
3	Roman Catholic schools: 163, 156, 79.

asked the President of the Board of Education the cost per child in special schools for mentally defective children as compared with the cost per child in primary schools, showing how the additional cost in special schools is made up.

The returns of local authorities do not enable me to supply the information asked for by the hon. Member. Special schools for mentally defective children are more costly to maintain than ordinary elementary schools because the schools themselves are generally not so large, the classes are necessarily smaller and the teachers receive, under the Burnham Scales, a special increment within the ordinary elementary scale.