asked the Minister of Health whether he can give particulars which show the number in the thousand of the population residing in the borough of Southwark who have died from cancer in the years 1914 and 1927?

The cancel-death rates per thousand population in

asked the Minister of Health, seeing that the actual saving effected by not appointing one of the present reduced Welsh Board of Health as chairman is approximately £300 per annum, and that the status and influence of such an important board must be the Metropolitan Borough of Southwark for the years 1914 and 1927 were 1.04 and 1.41 respectively.

asked the Minister of Health whether he will consider publishing the Report of the Smallpox and Vaccination Committee appointed by the League of Nations, which Report has recently been presented to the Council of the League?

I am informed that this report will be included in the minutes of the 12th Session of the Health Committee of the League of Nations, which will shortly be published.

asked the Minister of Health the number of persons in receipt of relief in the (Borough of Southwark during each of the months of this present year; and corresponding figures for the same months during 1927, giving particulars of the various categories?

The following table gives the desired information:detrimentally affected by the exclusion of a chairman, whether he will appoint one of their present number chairman.

The status and functions of the Welsh Board of Health are not, in my view, affected by the decision not to appoint a chairman. The bulk of the work of the Board is satisfactorily done by the members of the Board in their individual capacity, and meetings of the Board are but rarely held. The answer to the last part of the question is in the negative.

asked the Minister of Health if he will consider the advisability of appointing one of the present reduced Welsh Board of Health a member of the joint consultative committee of the United Kingdom, instead of appointing a deputy for a representative whose official connection with the Welsh Board of Health has now terminated?

My hon. Friend appears to be under some misapprehension. The hon. Member for Monmouth, who is and has for some years been the Welsh, representative on the National Health Insurance Joint Committee, is not in any way officially connected with the Welsh Board of Health. The retiring chairman of the Welsh Board of Health was appointed to act as deputy to the hon. Member for Monmouth at meetings of the Committee at which the hon. Member was unable to attend, and I have now appointed a member of the Welsh Board of Health to act in the same capacity.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the loss to the revenue involved in the allowance made to brewers of 6 per cent. in respect of such accidental loss and waste as arises in the brewing of beer under the Inland Revenue Act, 1880, Section 13 (b); and whether, as approximately 65 per cent. of the beer brewed in Great Britain is produced by under 5 per cent. of the firms engaged in the trade, and in view of the concentration of the trade and improved methods of brewing, he intends to reduce this allowance?

I have no reason to suppose that on an all-round average, the statutory allowance for waste in the course of brewing involves at the present time any loss to the revenue. As at present advised, therefore I do not propose to adopt the suggestion made in the second part of the question.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether he is aware that the neglect formally to acknowledge the receipt of a claim for old age pension may lead to unnecessary anxiety to the claimant; and will he consider the advisability of acknowledging the receipt of the claim, as is the custom in other Government Departments?

I have been asked to reply. I would refer my hon. Friend to my answer on the 24th April last to a question by the hon. Member for Poplar South (Mr. March) on this subject.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether any inquiry has been made as to the value of the site now occupied by the Stationery Office in Westminster; and if he has considered whether a profit could be effected by occupying a less expensive site and selling the existing one?

I have been asked to reply to this question. The disposal of the Stationery Office site in Westminster has been considered, but no active steps in the matter can be taken until suitable alternative accommodation can be mad© available for rehousing the Stationery Office.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, as representing the First Commissioner of Works, whether Mr. Hattersley, who joined the Office of Works in 1914 as a non-service temporary clerk, is retained on grounds of indispensability; and whether, as he is now performing work previously done by an ex-service temporary clerk recently discharged, he will state the grounds on which he is so retained?

Acting under the discretionary powers recognised in the Reports of the Lytton Committee, the First Commissioner decided to retain Mr. Hattersley on grounds of hardship and also because of his ability as a clerk. An ex-service man was employed for about a month before the termination of his employment as one of a staff of three engaged on a section of the work on which Mr. Hattersley was also engaged for a few days only, but the latter is now, and was previously, employed on work of a higher nature.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury how many candidates competed at the last examination for service as assistant inspector of taxes; how many were successful; and how many of the successful candidates have received appointments, and in which Departments?

There were 187 competitors at the last examination for assistant inspectors of taxes, of whom 44 were declared successful. Thirty-nine candidates were certified as assistant inspector of taxes, and one as junior assistant auditor under the Ministry of Health. One candidate was appointed as second clerk in the Metropolitan Police Courts Service. Of the remaining three candidates declared successful, one failed to pass the medical test, one declined appointment and one died.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury the number of vacancies to be filled in each Department by successful candidates from the open competitive examination among boys and girls for admission to the general and departmental clerical classes?

350 candidates have been declared successful by the Civil Service Commissioners. I am unable at this stage to state the number of vacancies to be filled in each Department by the assignment of successful candidates.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland the amount of land that has been purchased for small holdings in Scotland since 1912; the amount that has been used for that purpose; and the amount still held by the Board of Agriculture but not yet allocated?

The hon. Member will find the information in Appendix number three of the Report of the Board of Agriculture for Scotland for the year ended 31st December, 1927.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland the number of applications for small holdings in Harris and Lewis received by the Board of Agriculture in 1912; the number of applications which have been met; and the number still awaiting settlement?

I regret that the information asked for by the hon. Member cannot be obtained without considerable expenditure of time and labour, which would not in my opinion be justified.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if Neil Macdonald or Ewan Maelennan, who were sentenced at Lochmaddy on 14th June, 1923, for occupying land, have ever been offered small holdings since their application in May, 1912; and, if so, where and on what date?

The answer is in the negative.

asked the Secretary of State for Air what provision, if any, is made for the civil employment, at the close of their period of service, of junior Royal Air Force officers who have held short service commissions; and whether, seeing that the civil aircraft industry is inadequate to absorb more than a fraction of them, and that consequently many of them are unemployed with their specialised knowledge wasted, he will consider what action he can take in the matter.

As I stated in the Debates on the Air Estimates on 12th and 20th March last, a small special organisation, which is worked in connection with the Royal Air Force Educational Service and is based on the lines of the Universities Appointments Boards, has been set up for the purpose of assisting short service officers to obtain suitable appointments when they leave the Service. The results so far achieved indicate that, apart from posts in connection with aviation, there are a number of openings in industry and commerce for which the experience gained in the Air Force in initiative, power of command, savoir faire, organisation, and knowledge of life and work overseas provides a valuable training, when combined with the educational facilities of which an officer may take advantage while still in the Service.

asked the Postmaster-General whether negotiations are being carried on with the Government of the Isle of Man as to telephonic communications with the mainland, and, if so, when it is estimated these discussions will conclude.

Correspondence has passed between the Post Office and the Government of the Island. As regards the second part of the question, I cannot add anything to the reply to the hon. Member on the 12th instant.

asked the Postmaster General if he can state the use now being made of the extension of the cash-on-delivery postal system to agricultural products, and whether in every village post office the conditions governing this form of cash-on-delivery postage are prominently displayed.

I am sorry that I have as yet no separate figures relating to the recent extension of the cash-on-delivery services, but I hope they will be available shortly. As regards the second part of the question, I would refer my hon. and gallant Friend to an answer given to a question on the same subject by the hon. Member for Horncastle (Mr. Haslam) on the 25th instant.

asked the Minister of Labour the number of men and women from the chemical trade registered as unemployed on 20th May and 20th June, 1928.

At 21st May, 1928, 4,795 insured men and 723 insured women in Great Britain classified as belonging to the chemicals industry were recorded as unemployed. Figures for June are not yet available.

asked the Minister of Labour the number of boys and girls registered as unemployed in the London area in May and June, 1928?

At 18th June, 1928, 2,273 boys and 2,085 girls, aged 14 to 17 years, were on the live registers of Employment Exchanges in the area of Greater London, as compared with 3,132 boys and 2,881 girls at 14th May, 192S.

asked the Prime Minister if he can now give the date when the Report of the Industrial Transference Board will be available for Members of this House?

I would refer the hon. Member to the answer which I gave on Thursday last in reply to a question by the hon. Member for Chester-le-Street (Mr. Lawson).

asked the Prime Minister whether, in view of the increasing waste of time and money, and duplication of effort, caused by the multiplicity of authorities in the Metropolitan area, he intends at any time to introduce legislation to reform the government of London?

I have been asked to reply. The proposals of the Government in connection with the rating relief scheme will involve material changes in the local government of London and a reduction in the number of authorities as now existing. I fear that the time at the disposal of the Government and Parliament would not enable any further action to be taken with regard to the general arrangements for local government in London.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether his attention has been drawn to the fact that the Kenya Native Land Trust Bill excludes from the native reserves, as already demarcated, certain areas which may be leased to European landholders; and whether, in view of the effect of such exclusion on the uncertainty in regard to future land policy, which was described by the East Africa Commission as being the principal cause of disquiet among the natives, he proposes to take any action in this matter?

I think the hon. Member has misunderstood the position, as the Bill did not purport to effect any reduction in the native reserves; but as I explained in reply to a question by the hon. Member for Finsbury (Mr. Gillett) on the 21st June, it is not proposed to proceed with the enactment of this legislation pending the receipt and consideration of recommendations which will be made by the Commission on Closer Union in East Africa, and, in the circumstances, no useful purpose would be served by discussing the Measure further at this stage.

asked the President of the Board of Trade the actual amounts which he estimates will be due to the cotton, worsted and woollen industries, respectively, or, alternatively, to the three industries, under the Bating and Valuation (Apportionment) Bill?

I would refer the hon. Member to my reply of 14th May to the hon. Members for Roch-date (Mr. Kelly) and Leith (Mr. E. Brown), a copy of which I am sending him. The estimates for "wool combing, spinning and weaving," given in that reply cover both the worsted and the woollen industries.

asked the Home Secretary whether, in view of the increasing disfigurement caused by out-door advertisements, which are continually becoming larger and more conspicuous, he will set up a committee to consider measures for the control of such advertisements in urban as well as in rural areas?

The problem of rural scenery was fully considered by Parliament in 1925, when the Advertisements Regulation Act of that year was passed. So far as concerns matters within the scope of that Act, it is much too early to review the position. If the hon. Member has in mind the protection of residential areas, that is a very difficult and controversial question, which, so far as I am aware, has as yet been dealt with only in connection with town planning schemes. I am not prepared to set up a committee as suggested, but I would be willing to consider calling a conference later in the year if in the meantime I receive evidence of any general demand for action.

asked the Home Secretary whether he is aware that motorists parking their cars in London public streets and squares are not permitted by the police to lock the doors or leave their cars in gear with the gear locked; and whether, as this practice tends to increase theft, he will consider altering the Regulations?

I have been asked to answer this question. The London Traffic (Parking Places) Regulations, 1928, provide, inter alia, that when the person in charge of a vehicle leaves it on an authorised parking place, he shall leave it so that it can be removed or moved from one position to another by manual power. I do not think it right that vehicles should be left on these parking places, which are part of the public highway, so that they cannot be moved in case of emergency, or to enable another vehicle to get on or off the parking place.