asked the President of the Board of Trade with reference to the sum of £4,578 19s. 11d. shown as interest on page 5 of the General Lighthouse Fund Account, 1926–27, what is the amount of the capital sum, for what purpose it is held, and during what period it was collected.

The sum of £4,578 19s. 11d., shown on page 5 of the General Lighthouse Fund Account, 1926–27, is interest on investments held in respect of the Basses and Minicoy Lighthouse Service, and the capital sum invested is shown on page 8 of that Account—" (5) Investments at cost:—Nominal Value £113,916 1s. 2d. Cost £97,350 9s. 3d." This sum is held as a reserve for (a) depreciation and renewals, and (b) cost of new works, and replacements of Lighthouses and Permanent Properties at Basses and Minicoy. It has accumulated over a long period.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, the salaries

attached to Ministerial posts in 1880 and the salaries attached to those posts at the present time, giving in the case of increases or decreases the date of the change.

pursuant to his reply [OFFICIAL REPORT, 12th July, 1928; col. 2,455 Vol. 219] supplied the following statement:

asked the Minister of Transport if his attention has been called to a further serious accident on Brabyn's Brow, Marple, on Tuesday, 3rd July; if he is aware that a lorry lost control and crashed into a cottage, and that this same cottage has been severely damaged on several previous occasions, causing loss of life and financial loss to the owner; and what steps are being taken to deal with this dangerous gradient.

My attention had been drawn to the accident to which my hon. Friend refers. The question of improving the road at the spot where it occurred has been receiving the attention of the Derbyshire and Cheshire County Councils and my Department for some time past and an improvement scheme is under consideration at the present time.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether there is any method of selection when allocating small holdings to applicants; and, if so, whether he can state the method.

In the case of schemes carried out by the Board of Agriculture for Scotland in the exercise of their compulsory powers, the governing rules in the selection of holders are defined in Sub-sections 14 and 15 of Section 7 of the Small Landholders (Scotland) Act, 1911. When land is made available for subdivision, consideration is given to all circumstances which may enhance or depreciate the relative claims of applicants. Where a scheme is carried out by agreement with the proprietor, he is of course in a position to make his own choice.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland the reason why Neil Macdonald and Ewan Maclennan, who applied for small holdings in 1912, have never been offered small holdings by the Scottish Board of Agriculture, in view of the fact that small holdings have been given to 35 people whose applications were not lodged until 1919 down to 1925?

As the hon. Member was informed in reply to his question on the 5th instant, the holdings constituted in Harris since 1912 have been allocated to applicants whose claims for the particular lands made available from time to time were considered to be stronger than those of the two men mentioned in the question.

asked the Secretary for Mines whether during the War period any Government geologist made investigations with regard to cannel coal in Scotland; and, if so, what was the nature of his report?

During the War period an investigation of the cannel coal resources in Scotland was undertaken by His Majesty's Geological Survey, and the information then gathered, supplemented by that already in the possession of the Geological Survey, was published in Special Reports on the Mineral Resources of Great Britain, vol. 24, "Cannel Coals, Lignite and Mineral Oil in Scotland," in 1922. A third edition of the Geological Survey Memoir, "The Oil-Shales of the Lothians," was issued in 1927, bringing the information on oil-shales in Scotland up to date.

asked the Secretary to the Overseas Trade Department when the Reports on the economic and financial conditions in Spain and in Belgium will next be published?

The next Report on Spain is due for publication at the end of September. As the last Report on Belgium was isued a little more than three months ago, the next Report on that country will not fall due till 1929.

asked the Minister of Labour whether he is aware that 16 unemployed men from Plashetts Colliery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and others from Woodburn village, are required to go to Hexham once a month to report themselves at the Employment Exchange there, and that this entails a railway journey costing about 58. 8d. per head: and if he will consider sending one official once a month to these villages instead, and so save the expense of all these fares and all the waste of time?

Inquiry is being made, and a communication will be sent to the hon. and gallant Member.

asked the Minister of Labour if any instructions have been sent to managers of local Exchanges to send unemployed men who are in receipt of benefit to other towns; and, if so, whether he can state the text of those instructions?

I assume the hon. Member refers to special measures for finding employment for men from the hard-pressed areas, and would refer him to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Bow and Bromley (Mr. Lansbury) on 10th July.

asked the Minister of Health if he has received any protest from the Southwark Board of Guardians against the Order for the discontinuance of relief in 46 cases; if he is aware that one case concerned a man 49 years of age suffering from dermatitis and subject to fits; that in a second case the man has made repeated efforts to obtain work; that in another case the man is 55 years of age, served in the Army for four years before being invalided out, and has a wife of 74 years of age; that there were other cases of a similar nature; and if he intends taking any action in the matter?

My right hon. Friend has received a protest from the Southwark Guardians against a decision disapproving departures made by the guardians from the Relief Regulations. A conference with representatives of the guardians has been arranged for this week. My right hon. Friend must not be taken as accepting the descriptions given by the hon. Member of certain cases.

asked the Minister of Health whether he will indicate the schemes in respect to which he has issued, since 1919, orders under Section 41 (1) of the Housing Act, 1925, or the corresponding section of former Housing Acts, relating to allowances for costs, charge's, and expenses incurred by persons in opposing the compulsory acquisition of their properties; and the reasons which actuated him to make such orders?

Orders as to costs have been made since 1919 in respect of the following improvement schemes under the Housing Act:

(1) Metropolitan Borough of Stepney (Limehouse Fields).

(2) Borough of Ramsgate (Rat-cliffe Square).

(3) County of London (Basing Place and Blue Anchor Lane).

(4) County Borough of Sunderland (Area number 2 and area number 3).

Orders were made in these cases because I came to the conclusion, after considering the report of the local Inquiry, that there were certain individual cases in which it was equitable that some allowance towards the applicant's costs should be made.

asked the Minister of Health if he will state, in explanation of paragraph 25 ( c ) of the White Paper Cmd. 3134, upon what basis of computation each rural district council is to receive a grant per head of actual population at one-fifth of the uniform figure for boroughs and urban districts?

My hon. Friend will find in paragraph 24 of the White Paper, Cmd. 3134, the explanation for which he has asked.

asked the Minister of Health whether the loss of rates due to de-rating, which is referred to in paragraph 20, sub-paragraph (1), of the White Paper Cmd. 3134, is based on the rate in the £ levied by the local authority for the financial year ending 31st March, 1929, or on the actual expenditure of the local authority for that period?

It is contemplated that the loss of rates due to de-rating shall be ascertained on the basis and by the method indicated in paragraph 30 of the White Paper, Cmd. 3134.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for India what water- storage and irrigation projects are now in progress or authorised; in what provinces are they situated; and for how great an area of land in each case will irrigation be provided?

The statement below gives the information for which the hon. Baronet asks, so far as this is available is. As regards the last part of the question, I have no information, but, whereas 28,000.000 acres in all had been brought under irrigation by the commencement of the year 1926–27, it is estimated that by the time all the projects now under construction are in full working order the total area will be increased to nearly 40,000,000 acres. These figures and the information to be circulated refer only to Government irrigation and do not include private irrigation by wells, etc.

Statement of Government productive projects for irrigation, etc., in India in course of construction for the year 1927–28, and similar unproductive projects in course of construction up to the end of the year 1926–27. Information as to projects authorised but not yet commenced is not available.

Productive Projects.

Madras:

1. Polavaram Island Project.

2. Cauvery Metur Reservoir Project

3. Kattalai Right Bank Canal.

4. Basavanna Channel.

Bombay:

5. Sukkur (Lloyd) Barrage and Canals construction.

Bengal:

6. Grand Trunk Canal.

7. Damodar Canal.

8. Bakressur Canal.

United Provinces:

9. Sarda Canal.

10. Sarda Kichha Feeder Project.

Punjab:

11. Sutlej Valley Project.

Burma:

12. Man Canal Project.

13. Pyaungbya Canal.

14. Remodelling Paleik Canal.

15. Shwebo Canal Remodelling Project.

16. Extension of the Mon Canal System.

Unproductive Projects.

Bombay (Sind):

1. Seharwah.

Bombay (Deccan and Gujarat):

2. Budhihal Tank.

3. Gokak Canal Survey.

4. Victoria Tank.

5. Suki River.

Central Provinces:

6. Kharung.

7. Boharibund.

8. Mala.

9. Maniari.

asked the Secretary for Mines what stocks of tin were held by the tin trade during the first six months of 1928, and also the price movements during the same period?

The stocks of tin held in this country at the end of each of the first six months of 1928 were as follow:

The average selling prices per ton of the metal on the London Metal Exchange during those six months were:

asked the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs whether, seeing that under letters patent issued to the Southern Rhodesian Government in 1923 franchise for the natives was preserved, he can say how many natives were on the voters' roll in 1923; and what is the total number to-day?

I have been asked to reply to this question. My right hon. Friend has not the figures for 1923, but he understands that the number of natives at present on the voters' roll is 62.

asked the President of the Board of Education whether the Board will consider the desirability of issuing, in simple language, the provisions of the various Acts of Parliament dealing with teachers' superannuation and the statutory rules drafted under such Acts, and an account of the procedure approved by the Board in connection with the superannuation of teachers in a single pamphlet; whether the Board have any evidence, as a result of communications from teachers or teachers' organisations, of uncertainty on the part of teachers as to the meaning of full-time service recognisable for superannuation purposes; and whether it is possible for the Board to issue a statement either in the pamphlet already suggested or otherwise defining full-time teaching service?

I do not think that I could properly undertake to paraphrase in an official publication the provisions of statutory enactments. The question of full-time service, however, has been already fully dealt with in three Circulars, copies of which I am sending the hon. Member, and I have no reason to think that, apart from exceptional cases, any special difficulty is experienced in regard to this question.

asked the Postmaster-General what special circumstances warranted the promotion of a clerical officer in the Post Office Savings Bank to the executive officer over the heads of 100 of his seniors; and how many of the men passed over are classified as A for promotion purposes?

The officer in question was selected as the best qualified for promotion to the executive grade after careful consideration of the claims and qualifications of all the eligible officers. I am sorry that I cannot see my way to give the number of the more senior officers who are graded "A" in the current annual reports for promotion purposes. These reports are confidential, and they are prepared primarily with reference to promotion to the higher clerical grade, for which the qualifications required are essentially different.

asked the Secretary of State for Air if he has any statement to make regarding the proposed new subsidy to Imperial Airways, Limited?

I would refer the hon. Member to the Note on this subject (Command Paper No. 3143) presented to Parliament last week.

The rates given for import duties into Germany are those applicable to imports from the principal sources of supply. The rates in sterling of the French duties on any particular date varied with the fluctuations of the French exchange on London. The duties specified are those leviable on imports from the principal foreign sources of supply. Imports from Algeria and other French Possessions were free of duty except in special circumstances, affecting only trifling quantities in the years in question.

II.

So far as the wheat supply of any year was obtained from stocks carried over from the previous year, the information available is insufficient to determine the precise amounts of the supplies in the various countries. To minimise the uncertainty from this cause, the statement given below relates to years ended

asked the President of the Board of Trade what were the duties on imported wheat per quarter in the United Kingdom, Germany, and France during the years 1925, 1926, and 1927; what was the estimated percentage of imported wheat to the total wheat supply in each of these countries, respectively. during these years; and what was the average price per quarter in each of these countries, respectively, during 1925, 1926, and 1927 of home-grown wheat, imported wheat, and wheat as a whole?

The rates of duty on imported wheat per 480 lbs. have been as follow during the years 1925 to 1927:

31st July. In calculating the supplies, the proportion of exported flour which was derived from imported wheat cannot be ascertained, and the figures given treat exports of wheat milled in the countries named as being derived from home-grown and imported wheat in the proportions of the supplies of grain available for milling. The percentages of the total wheat supplies which were imported, flour being taken at its estimated equivalent in grain, were as follow:—

III.

The average price of the entire supply of wheat in any of these countries cannot be stated. The quotations for homegrown wheat at certain markets were as follows (no information as to the average grades of such wheat is available):—

The average values recorded for imported wheat at the ports per 480 lbs. ex-duty, were:—

For No. 2 Northern Manitoba wheat, the following records of average prices per 480 lbs. are available:—

asked the Minister of Agriculture whether he is aware that a Dutch experimenter has worked out a cure and preventive for foot-and-mouth disease, consisting of a herbal preparation administered to the animals by mixture with their fodder, and that stringent tests carried out by a Dutch Government veterinary surgeon resulted in a large measure of success; and will he look into this matter?

The hon. Baronet has been good enough to send me some particulars of the preparation referred to in the question. The Ministry had not previously heard of his preparation, but I am having inquiries made, and will communicate with the hon. Baronet.

asked the Minister of Agriculture whether he has in preparation a scheme for the reclamation of the Wash and the drainage of the neighbouring district, now largely waterlogged and, if not, whether he will formulate one, in view of the agricultural value of the land and the possibilities of such a project for the relief of unemployment?

No, Sir; His Majesty's Government do not propose to embark upon any scheme for the reclamation of the Wash which, on a large scale, would be an uneconomic and impracticable proposition. With regard to the better drainage of the district bordering on the Wash, the Ministry is now considering a large State-aided scheme for dealing with the mouth of the River Welland which will also affect the River Witham, and it is hoped that work may be started in the near future. In view of the rejection of the Ouse Drainage Bill of last Session, remedial measures for dealing with this river must await the introduction of a Bill designed to give effect to the findings of the Royal Commission on Land Drainage.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what action he proposes to take in the matter of the eight British subjects who have been kept imprisoned at Boulogne for three weeks awaiting trial.

His Majesty's Consul at Lille, in whose district Boulogne is situated, has been asked for a full report on this case.