asked the Home Secretary whether, seeing that in the case of public companies which are not insured against liability under the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1925, going into liquidation there is no means of obtaining compensation due to the workmen, he will introduce an amendment to the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1925, making it compulsory for every employer to insure all workmen in an independent approved insurance company?

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the similar question asked by the hon. Member for the Gower Division (Mr. D. Grenfell) on 22nd May last. I am not in a position to promise any such legislation.

asked the Home Secretary the number of cases of alleged murder which have been tried before each of the Judges in 1910 and each succeeding year; what number of persons were sentenced to death; what number of these convictions were altered on appeal; what number were reprieved; and what number were executed?

Statistics as to trials and appeals in cases where murder is charged are published each year in the Criminal Statistics—for

asked the Home Secretary whether he is aware of the destruction of large numbers of valuable homing pigeons by the peregrine falcon; and what steps does he propose to take in order to protect these birds during their cross-country flights?

From time to time I have received representations on this matter, but as the law stands I have no power to take any action.

asked the Home Secretary what was the number of over-

instance, in Tables I and VIII of the Criminal Statistics for 1926, Cmd. 3055. The names of the Judges are not recorded in the Returns or shown in the Statistics, and I could not see my way to arranging for their inclusion in annual or special returns.

asked the Home Secretary, for each of the last five years, the number of males and females respectively, under 21 years of age who have been convicted of indictable offences other than simple and minor larcenies, and the lengths of the sentences in excess of three, six, nine, and 12 years?

Figures concerning persons under 21 convicted of indictable offences other than simple and minor larcenies were not collected for 1922 or 1923 and are not yet available for 1927. For 1924, 1925 and 1926 the figures are as follow:

time hours worked by stewards and clerks generally in the prison service for the year ended 31st December last; and how much, if any, of the overtime has been paid for either by cash or time off in lieu?

During the year ended 31st December last, the amount of overtime worked by the clerical staffs in the prisons was 21,482 hours. The staff concerned numbered 232. The work in many prison offices fluctuates, and if overtime is worked at one period it is a common practice to allow equivalent time off at another, but it would not be possible without much labour to ascertain exactly how much of the overtime worked is allowed for in this way. The amount paid for in cash is small—only 94 hours in 1927.

asked the Minister of Health (1) the number of workshops for the blind within the county borough of West Ham; the number of industrial workers engaged; in what sphere they are so engaged; and the number of home-workers employed;

With permission, I will answer these questions together. There are two workshops for the blind in the county borough, and 34 blind and five sighted persons are employed there on basket-making, boot-repairing and mat-making, in addition to two canvassers and one porter. There are seven approved home-workers resident in the borough. My right hon. Friend has no information as to the total expenditure of the workshops, but he is informed that the trading loss for the year ended 31st March last was approximately £1,670, of which it is estimated that the voluntary society will find about £620, the Exchequer, £620, the West Ham Council £400, and the East Ham Council £50. My right hon. Friend understands that the West Ham Council have also agreed to pay £922 in respect of augmentation of wages and holiday allowances.

asked the Minister of Health if the Department of Industrial and Scientific Research has given consideration to the question of the deleterious effect upon the health of the people of irritating mechanical noises And to what extent they might be diminished or prevented?

I have been asked to answer this question on behalf of the Lord President. The possibilities of studying the effects of noise and vibration upon health and efficiency are at present receiving the consideration of the Industrial Fatigue Research Board, under the Medical Research Council.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for India what is the total number of individual cultivators, and what is the total acreage of land subject to the new land assessments in the Bardoli district and in any other one or two similar adjoining districts within the province of Bombay whch are reasonably comparable with the Bardoli district in population, acreage, and economic circumstances; and what is the average increase of assessment in Bardoli and in the other comparable districts over the previous assessments, and in what year were the previous assessments made?

The total area of land subject to the revised assessment in the Bardoli taluka is 124,147 acres, and the number of individual occupants there is 14,855. The corresponding figures for the Chorasi taluka in the same district, where the conditions are the same and which was resettled at the same time, are 46,510 acres and 7,137 occupants. As I have previously stated, the average increase on the previous assessment finally decided upon in the case of the Bardoli taluka is 20 per cent. In the case of Chorasi the average increase is approximately 18¼ per cent., but the rate of assessment in Chorasi is higher than in Bardoli. The year in which the previous assessments were made in these talukas was 1897.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for India what is the total acreage of land seized by the Government of the Bombay Presidency in the Bardoli district from cultivators who refuse to pay the new land assessments; and what is the total amount for which the said lands were sold and what is the total amount of new land tax which was dutiable on the said total acreage?

The total area of land declared forfeit so far is about 65,000 acres, but of this up to date only 1,618 acres, all belonging to non-agriculturists, have been sold to new occupants. The price realised is Rs.10,581. The assessment on this area of land sold at the revised rates is Rs.5,302. Besides the acreage already sold some 13,000 acres of the forfeited land belonged to non-agriculturists, and arrangements for the sale of this are proceeding.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for India how many individual cultivators have paid the new land assessments in the Bardoli district, in the province of Bombay; how many have refused to do so up to the latest available date; whether this defiance of the Government of the Bombay Presidency in the matter of the new land assessments is being pursued in any other districts; and, if so, will he name them?

The number of land revenue assessees who have paid the revised assessment up to date is 1,830 out of a total number of assessees in the taluka of 14,855. I am not aware of any widespread default in any other district.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for India whether there has been any loss of life and, if so, to what extent, arising out of and in connection with the general opposition of the people of the Bardoli district, Bombay Presidency, to the new land assessments imposed by the Government of the Bombay Presidency?

The answer is in the negative.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for India whether, seeing that the Royal Commission's Report on agriculture has now been received, he is in a position to say whether the proposals for the increased purchasing power of the Indian ryot and the increase of employment in the British engineering industry, made during Debates in this House on 20th July, 1926, and 17th June, 1927, can now be submitted to the proper authorities in India?

The hon. Member no doubt realises that, so far as the proposals which he has in mind might involve some foam of assistance from the authorities in India, the question of giving such assistance is one for the provincial governments. I will communicate his question to the Government of India in case they may think it desirable to transmit the suggestion which it contains to the provincial governments.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether, having regard to the unwillingness of the Polish Government to meet the representations of His Majesty's Government respecting the duty of 15 zlote per 100 kilogrammes on herrings of the kind normally exported from this country as compared with a duty of 5 zlote only on herrings of other descriptions, he proposes to take any action by way of a retaliatory duty on imports to this country from Poland?

The answer is in the negative.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether protests have been received from the Admiralty and Royal Dockyard Technical Officers' Associations from Portsmouth, Devonport, Chatham, and Malta with regard to the projected examination for inspectors of shipwrights, on the grounds of its redundancy; what is the total of the successful candidates from all the Royal dockyards in the 1923 examination and the total of those established since that date; what, in particular, is the total of 1923 successful candidates from Chatham Dockyard and the number subsequently established; and whether, in view of the fact that owing to the heavy discharges that are taking place there will be no young men to take the examination and the entrants will simply be those who have already taken the 1923 examination, he will reconsider the necessity for holding another?

The answer to the first part of the question is in the negative. The total number of candidates from all yards qualified at the 1923 examination is 494, of whom 28 have received appointments and in addition five others will receive appointments as vacancies occur. The number of quali- fied candidates on Chatham list is 108, of whom four have received appointments. As regards the last part of the question, the Admiralty have no apprehensions on that account especially having in view the very large number of candidates who have applied to sit for the next examination. All the points which my hon. and gallant Friend refers to have been fully considered. It is, however, desirable to hold examinations at regular intervals so as to give the younger men in the dockyards an opportunity to qualify for promotion, thus ensuring that the Service obtains only the best qualified officers.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what is the attitude of His Majesty's Government and the other signatories to the Treaty of Trianon as to enabling the Hungarian optants to obtain a judicial decision of their dispute with Rumania in accordance with the terms of the Treaty or in any way?

His Majesty's Government supported the resolution adopted by the Council. The terms of the Council's resolution are given in the answer to the questions of the hon. Members for Sheffield Park (Mr. Storry Deans) and South Cardiff (Captain A. Evans).

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the Council of the League of Nations has come to a final decision about referring the question of the competence of the Mixed Arbitral Tribunal to determine the complaints of the Hungarian optants against Rumania to the permanent Court of International Justice at The Hague for an advisory opinion or otherwise to take cognisance of the matter; and, if so, what is that decision?

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the Council of the League of Nations has come to a definite decision on the question of taking any further steps to enable the Hungarian landowners to have their claims determined by a Mixed Arbitral Tribunal as provided by the Treaty; and what is the nature of the decision?

"Whilst deeply regretting that the parties have hitherto failed to reach agreement on the lines of the Council's recommendations.

Without desiring to exclude any other friendly arrangement, remains of opinion that this dispute ought to be settled by the parties upon the basis of the solutions which the Council has recommended to their acceptance, maintains its resolutions of 19th September, 1927, and 9th March, 1928.

And urges the Governments of Hungary and Rumania to bring this long dispute to a close by reciprocal concessions."

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether, in view of the fact that Germany, the United States, and Japan are developing and increasing their trade with Russia and that the loss of Russian trade by this country has added materially to our industrial distress, he proposes to take such steps as may lead to the restoration of trading relations between the two countries?

As trading relations already exist between this country and the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics, no question of their restoration arises. The case of the United States shows that the absence of diplomatic relations with the Soviet Government is no bar to trade.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether, in view of the importance of the Russian Government's co-operation in any step taken towards the establishment and maintenance of world peace, His Majesty's Government contemplate taking any action that may lead to the resumption of full diplomatic relations between this country and that of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics?

His Majesty's Government are, as has been frequently explained, prepared to consider the resumption of diplomatic relations with the Soviet Government whenever that Government fulfil the conditions outlined in the speech made by the Prime Minister at the Guildhall on 9th November last, and quoted in my reply to the hon. Member for Elland (Mr. Robinson) on 29th March.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is satisfied that the present method of financing the Empire Marketing Fund by means of Grants-in-Aid secures effective control over the expenditure of this fund; and whether he is considering any alternative method giving greater control to the Treasury?

This matter is referred to in the Second Report of the Public Accounts Committee just issued. I understand that it has been examined also by the Estimates Committee, whose Report will shortly be presented. My right hon. Friend will consider the question in the light of these Reports.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether, seeing that instruction No. 7 to pension officers of Customs and Excise on the subject of the investigation by them of the ages of claimants for old age and blind pensions, which instruction is contained in the second schedule to the Old Age Pensions Consolidated Regulations, 1922, requires each pension officer in every case to take all reasonable steps to obtain the best evidence and information which it is reasonably possible to obtain and to make all such inquiries as appear to him necessary having regard to the circumstances of the case, he will explain why certain pension officers refuse to assist such claimants, including blind claimants, by consulting public and quasi-public records, which often contain the best evidence of age which it is possible to obtain (for example, the records of baptism and marriage and the Census records of 1881); whether that instruction has been in fact or effect repealed or modified or explained by any additional published or unpublished instruction to any pension officer; and, if so, will he communicate all such further instructions to the old age pensions committees for their information and assistance in their duty of completing, or endeavouring to complete, the pensions officers' investigations of age in all cases whereon those officers may report to the committees that such officers have been unable to ascertain whether or not the claimants have attained the respective statutory ages, but that, apart from that question, each claim to pension is lawful and valid?

Under the law the duty of establishing that a claimant to an old age pension has attained the statutory age lies with the claimant. If the claimant does not produce satisfactory evidence of age the pension officer takes steps to obtain the best evidence which it is reasonably possible to obtain by means of a search of the birth registers and the Census returns of 1861 and 1871 in the custody of the Registrar-General, and also, in suitable cases, of earlier Census returns in the Public Record Office. A similar search of baptismal records in England and Wales cannot be made because these records are not collected centrally, and the evidence of age afforded by marriage records is not necessarily reliable, but baptismal or marriage certificates are considered if produced by claimants. As to the 1881 Census records, I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given by the Chancellor of the Exchequer to his question of 8th March last. I am satisfied that, as is required by the instruction quoted, the information on the subject obtained by pension officers is the best evidence which it is reasonably possible to obtain. The number of claimants to blind pensions is relatively small, and would not justify the expense involved in the search of more recent Census records. In reply to the concluding portion of the question, I would point out that the form of the report which is made to the pension committee discloses the information which has been obtained by the pension officer.

asked the Postmaster-General how many of the 66 pre-War supplementary clerks in the London telephone service are graded A for promotion purposes; and how many pre-War ex-assistant clerks and ex-clerical assistants from number 67 to number 120 on the seniority list are similarly graded?

The annual reports in which officers are graded for promotion purposes are confidential documents, and I regret that I cannot see my way to furnish the particulars desired.

asked the Postmaster-General upon what terms the canvassers are engaged for the purpose of obtaining new business for the Post Office telephones?

The basic rates of pay of the canvassers are 40s. a week up to £200 a year in London, and 35s. a week up to £180 a year in the provinces. They receive Civil Service bonus in addition, and also commission on orders secured. They normally serve five years in an unestablished capacity before being placed on the permanent establishment.

asked the Minister of Transport if he

can now make a statement with regard to a grant of money and permission to raise a loan to construct the sanctioned new road from Mardy to Llyswen and Rhigos in order to complete the scheme of the inter-valley roads from Rhondda side; and, seeing that this will give employment to a large number of workmen who are at present unemployed, will he hasten his decision on the matter?

Before sanctioning the initiation of any more sections of the Inter-Valley Road Scheme, I must ascertain clearly the full extent of the commitments in respect of the work already undertaken by the Glamorgan County Council. These particulars are not yet available, and I cannot, therefore, at present approve any extensions of the scheme.

asked the Minister of Transport under the various purposes the amounts up to which he is prepared to incur liabilities on behalf of the Road Fund during the current financial year, together with the corresponding figures for the financial year 1927–28?

The information desired is as follows:—

asked the Secretary of State for War if any decision has yet been arrived at by the War Office with regard to the renewal of the grant to the Irish units of the Church Lads Brigade of 4s. per head for each efficient cadet in Ireland; and the reason for withholding the grant from Northern Irish units while paying it to English, Scotch, and Welsh units, in view of the fact that the taxes from which the grant is made are collected from Northern Ireland as well as from England, Scotland, and Wales?

It has been decided to confine the fixed sums available for grants to cadet corps to those units which are administered by Territorial Army Associations, and I regret therefore that Northern Irish units are not eligible for such grants.

asked the Minister of Transport whether he will take steps to ensure that in connection with any schemes of electricity development, to minimise the possible risk to fire fighters, an obligation shall be placed upon owners of premises in which high-tension current is used that the main electricity supply controls be placed in a fire-resisting chamber near the main entrance in order that the current can be speedily switched off by the fire brigade?

I understand that representations on this matter have already been made to the Electricity Commissioners in connection with their Regulations under the Electricity (Supply) Acts for securing the safety of the public. The Regulations are at present under revision by the Commissioners with a view to the consolidation of the existing codes, and careful consideration will be given to the matter raised by the hon. Member.

asked the Minister of Labour how many men have been transferred from South Wales to Birmingham in addition to the 38 so transferred on or about 12th July, whether the employment found for them was offered to the 28,976 persons who were unemployed in Birmingham at the time the transfers took place, and the cost of transferring the unemployed under the Act to the un-

employed and the Exchequer, respectively?

Five men have been brought from South Wales into the Birmingham area since 12th July. The employment they obtained was specially offered to them by employers through the Employment Exchanges. The fares were advanced, one-half of the amount in excess of four shillings being payable out of the Insurance Fund, the remainder being repaid by the men in weekly instalments.

asked the Minister of Labour the number of staff employed in the administration of unemployed grants funds in 1927, and the number who are at present employed?

The staff of the Unemployed Grants Committee, inclusive of typing staff and messengers, numbered six on 1st July, 1928, and nine on 1st July, 1927. The administration of grants when approved by the Committee is carried out by the staff of various Departments according to the nature of the scheme and the locality in which the work is proceeding.

asked the Minister of Labour the number of unemployed miners in Lanarkshire, Fife, Stirlingshire and Ayrshire, respectively, to the last available date, and the similar figures for the same date last year?

The following statement contains the information for which the hon. Gentleman asks: