asked the Minister of Labour whether, with regard to the number of unemployed miners from South Wales who have been transferred to Birmingham, he will state their number; whether they have been transferred in accordance with a recommendation of the Industrial Transference Board; how many have found employment and its nature; from what source has their removal costs been met; whether he is aware that the number of unemployed persons in Birmingham has increased by 4,000 during the last six weeks; and whether he will refrain from importing unemployed persons to an area where there are already 28,976 persons seeking employment?

I have been asked to reply. Thirty-eight men have been transferred during the past four weeks from South Wales to the Birmingham area. Employment was found for all, but one abandoned the work after a short while, and another declined the work offered at first, and when he later changed his mind the employer refused to accept him. The employment was in a variety of occupations. The fares to Birmingham were advanced under the Labour Exchanges Act, and part of them will be repayable by the men by instalments. My right hon. Friend is aware of the facts mentioned in the last part of the question, but employment in Birmingham if and has been much better than in many parts of South Wales. On the general question of these transfers, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Bow and Bromley (Mr. Lansbury) on 5th July.

asked the Minister of Labour what was the amount spent in training unemployed adolescents between the ages of 16 and 18 during the first six months of this year; and in which centres such training facilities are available.

Exact information is not available, but it is estimated that the proportion of the cost of juvenile unemployment centres from 1st January to 30th June, 1928, applicable to juveniles between the ages of 16 and 18 is about £25,000, and that the cost of training of juveniles of the above ages who attended centres conducted by the Central Committee on Women's Training and Employment during the same period was about £4,200. Lists of juvenile unemployment centres and of those home training centres to which juveniles are admitted are given below:

asked the Minister of Labour the number of people, specifying men, women, boys, and girls, on the Devonport Employment Exchange for the month of June, 1928, and the corresponding particulars for Plymouth?

The following table gives the number of persons on the registers of the Devonport and Plymouth Employment Exchanges at the beginning of each week in June, 1928.

asked the Minister of Labour the number of men, women, and boys and girls, and young women and young men, respectively, who have been refused unemployment benefit in the Elland division of Yorkshire since 19th April, 1928; the number of courts of referees in the division and the names and addresses of the members of the courts; what meetings have been held; if

Males.			Females.			Total.
Men.	Young Persons.	Boys.	Women.	Young Persons.	Girls.
80	2	—	13	2	—	97

These offices are within the area of the Huddersfield Court of Referees and separate statistics of the cases dealt with by that Court from the Elland division of Yorkshire are not available. During the period above mentioned this Court of Referees held ten sessions, at seven of which representatives of employers and of insured contributors were present. At the other three sessions representatives of insured contributors were present but representatives of employers were not. I am sending the hon. Member a list of the names and addresses of the members of the panels of the Court. The eases dealt with by the Huddersfield Court during the period 19th April, 1928, to 11th June, 1928, were as follow:

Recommendations in favour of			Males.	Females.	Total.
Allowance	…	…	70	26	96
Disallowance	…	…	67	37	104

asked the Minister of Transport whether it is at his instigation that 20 notices bearing the words "Please cross here" are exhibited in New Waterloo Place?

The answer is in the affirmative. The notices are exhibited on six special posts, and two lamp posts.

The number of disallowances of benefit by insurance officers in respect of the Employment Exchange at Brighouse and the branch offices at Elland and Greetland for the period 19th April, 1928, to 11th June, 1928, were as follow:—

asked the Minister of Health if any action has been taken to ascertain the opinion of rural district councils on the proposals to transfer the responsibility for the administration of all highways in rural districts to county councils, and with what result; if no steps are being taken will he, in view of the resolution of protest unanimously passed at a conference of rural district councils held at the Guildhall on 26th June, consult these local authorities before proceeding further in the matter?

I have been asked to reply. The recent publication of the Government's proposals for the reform of local government will afford local authorities an opportunity of making representations on any part of the scheme in which they are specially concerned.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether he is aware that persons discovered to be importing articles in contravention of the Customs Regulations are, after they have paid revenue duty, informed that they must apply for the articles the following day at the King's warehouse in Lower Thames Street, and that on making application as directed they are informed that the articles in question have become the property of the Crown; and what is the purpose of informing persons that they should make application for the articles in question?

If, as I assume to be the case my hon. Friend has in mind cases in which persons arriving in this country are detected in attempts to smuggle dutiable goods, he is under a misapprehension as to the position. In such cases no question of the payment of revenue duty arises, but the goods are under the law forfeited to the Crown. Persons concerned would not be told by officers of the Customs Department to apply to the King's warehouse to obtain restitution of the goods. They would be informed that any appeal which they may wish to make should be addressed to the Commissioners of Customs and Excise.

asked the Secretary of State for Air if it is intended to organise a non-stop flight to India this year, as foreshadowed last year when the attempts then were abandoned?

The possibility of carrying out further endurance flights is being kept in view, but I am not able at present to give my Noble Friend any details.

asked the Home Secretary if he has any information as to the number of persons in each industry who are totally incapacitated and in receipt of compensation under the Workmen's Compensation Acts?

No, Sir. I regret that I cannot furnish any information on this point. The returns collected from different industries, which are tabulated in the Annual Volumes of Workmen's Compensation Statistics, do not distinguish between cases of total and partial incapacity.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether his attention has been called to the prolonged attendance required of persons who apply personally at the Pass- port Office for passports; and whether, in order to lessen the existing delays, he will give instructions for additional clerical assistance to be engaged during the holiday season?

No complaints have been received of delay in the issue of passports by the Passport Office, whether application is made personally or through the post. During the holiday season additional staff is engaged in order to provide the usual facilities for members of the public to obtain their passports expeditiously. At any time of the year a case of prolonged personal attendance would be a very rare occurrence and I shall be happy to make inquiries into any instance which the hon. Member may have in mind.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the question of the Hungarian optants, considered by the Council of the League of Nations at its recent meeting, still remains open; and whether the Council contemplates taking the necessary steps to cause the vacancy on the Roumano-Hungarian Mixed Arbitral Tribunal to be filled?

No, Sir. In so far as concerns the appeals made to the Council of the League of Nations by Roumania and Hungary, respectively, in March, 1927, which were considered at the last meeting of the Council, the question is closed. As regards the second part of the question, I would refer the Noble Lord to the reply which I returned on 2nd July to the hon. Members for Cardigan, Central Hackney and Ayr Burghs.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether, as the Nine-Power Treaty, signed at Washington on 6th February, 1922, covers all the provinces of China, including Manchuria, His Majesty's Government regard Manchuria as Chinese territory; whether His Majesty's Government have recognised, either tacitly or expressly, the special interests of Japan in Manchuria; and whether any other Power signatory of the Nine-Power Treaty has stated that it does not recognise that Japan has any special rights and interests in the Manchurian provinces?

His Majesty's Government regard Manchuria as being part of China; they do not recognise Japan as having any special interests in that territory other than those conferred by Treaty and those referred to in Baron Shidehara's statement at the Plenary Session of the Washington Conference on 4th February, 1922, for the text of which I would refer the hon. Member to page 76 of the White Paper on the Conference on Limitation of Armament, Washington, 1921–22 (Command 1627). The answer to the last part of the hon. Member's question is in the negative, except in so far as it may apply to protests made by the Peking and Nanking Governments.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if His Majesty's Government is satisfied that all the ex-enemy countries have now complied with the requirements of the Peace Treaties as regards disarmament: and, if not, in what respects those requirements have not been complied with?

The Inter-Allied Commissions of Control which, in virtue of the Peace Treaties, were set up in Germany, Austria, Hungary and Bulgaria respectively, to supervise the execution of disarmament Clauses in those Treaties, have now all been withdrawn because they have accomplished their task to an extent which the ex-Allied Governments considered on the whole satisfactory and adequate. In the case of all these countries except Austria the final detailed reports which the Commissions of Control drew up on the termination of their mission have been communicated to the League Council, who, on the withdrawal of the Commissions of Control, became, as laid down in the Peace Treaties, responsible for investigating any subsequent breaches of the disarmament Clauses.As regards Austria, the Commission's final report has not yet been presented to the League Council, because there are certain outstanding points regarding the conversion of munition factories to industrial uses which are still the subject of negotiations between the ex-Allied Governments and the Austrian Government.As regards Hungary, in communicating the Commission's final report to the League Council, the ex-Allied Governments draw its attention to certain reservations expressed by the Commission of Control regarding the application of the recruiting laws in Hungary.As regards Bulgaria, in communicating the Commission's final report to the League Council, the ex-Allied Governments drew its attention to the frequency of non-execution or transgression of the new military laws regarding recruiting and army organisation, although the laws themselves, if loyally observed, were such as to assure the satisfactory application of the Treaty stipulations. The attention of the Council was also drawn to the fact that the Bulgarian Government had not yet fulfilled its undertaking to revise Article 71 of the Constitution which asserts the principle of universal military service, which is incompatible with the stipulations of the Peace Treaties.Lastly, as regards Germany, an agreement was reached at Geneva on 12th December, 1926, between the ex-Allied Governments and the German Government, whereby after the withdrawal of the Commission of Control certain experts were attached to the diplomatic missions of the ex-Allied Governments at Berlin with a view to reach agreement with the German authorities as to the final execution of certain points which, at the date of the withdrawal of the Commission of Control, could not yet be regarded as having been completely carried out. Considerable progress has been mad; in the settlement of these outstanding points which concern, among other things, the reorganisation of the police and the alienation of military establishments.

asked the Minister of Health the number of persons in receipt of parish relief in Devonport and Plymouth, specifying the various categories, during the month of June, 1928?

——		Number of persons in receipt of		Total.
		Institutional relief (including casuals, but excluding lunatics in county and borough asylums).	Domiciliary relief (excluding persons in receipt of medical relief only).
1. Parish of Devonport	…	235	2,105	2,340
2. Parish of Plymouth	…	684	2,371	3,055

asked the Minister of Health whether he is aware that in the case of a person who is by reason of mental or other incapacity unable to claim a pension but whose relatives or friends consider that he has or may perhaps have pension rights under the Old Age Pensions Acts, 1908 to 1924, or the Blind Persons Act, 1920, it is almost invariably an essential preliminary, under the existing law, that before those rights, if any, can be given effect an application must be made to the old age pensions committee, namely, the local pensions authority, for the area in which the incapacitated person resides for the appointment of an agent, and that if at the time of the application or at a subsequent date it is also desired to ascertain whether the incapacitated person has a right to a pension under the Widows', Orphans', and Old Age Contributory Pensions Act, 1925, an additional application for another appointment of an agent must next be made to a further and separate authority, namely, the Minister of Health; and whether he will confer with the Chancellor of the Exchequer with a view to an early announcement as to the desirability of legislation to simplify the existing law and procedure as to the appointment of agents by providing that an agent appointed under the Acts of 1908 and 1924 shall, by virtue of that one appointment, also have power to act if necessary, under the Act of 1925, and that an agent appointed under the Act of 1925 shall similarly have power, without further appointment, to act, if necessary, under the Acts of 1908 to 1924?

The following Statement shows the numbers of persons in receipt of poor law relief on the last Saturday in June, 1928.

I would point out that, as the transitional period, which extended from 2nd July, 1926 to 2nd January, 1928, has now expired, the difficulty which my hon. Friend desires to provide against is not likely to arise in the future, for normally there will be no question of making a formal claim for a pension at age 70 by virtue of the Contributory Pensions Act, 1925, that pension following automatically on the receipt of a widow's pension or of a pension between the ages of 65 and 70.

asked the Minister of Health if he will reconsider the circumstances attending the refusal of the claim to an old age pension, under the contributory scheme, to Mr. G. J. Abrehart, No. 620,351?

As the formal decision on the claim has been given, it is not open to me to review the case unless new facts are brought to my notice. Mr. Abrehart was notified of his right of appeal to the referees appointed under the Act.

asked the Minister of Health if it is the policy of the Government to make State registration compulsory for hospital nurses in Government establishments?

The only Government establishment where nurses are employed for which I am responsible is the Rampton State Institution for Mental Defectives. So far as that establishment is concerned, the answer to the question is in the negative.

asked the Minister of Health what are the duties allocated to each of the following grades: women inspectors, insurance; women assistant inspectors, insurance; women inspectors on general work other than insurance; the chief woman inspector and the deputy woman inspector, insurance, respectively; and women inspectors under the Board of Control?

The duties assigned to the various grades are as follow:1.