asked the President of the Board of Trade what were the quantities of petroleum, including lamp oil, motor spirit, spirit other than motor spirit, lubricating oil, fuel oil, and other sorts imported into this country from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics for the first six months of 1926, 1927, and 1928, respectively?

:The following table shows the quantities of the total imports of various descriptions of petroleum into the United Kingdom, registered as consigned from Russia during the first six months of 1926, 1927 and 1928, respectively?

not in a position to say whether any action is necessary.

asked the Postmaster-General when the life assurance business of the Post Office was abandoned; and whether it was so abandoned because the service was run at a loss?

Government life insurances can still be effected through the agency of the Post Office. The second part of the question does not therefore arise.

asked the Minister of Pensions how many applications for assistance have been received by the Ministry since the War from ex-service men who on enlistment were not graded as Al men; and what is the proportion of the number of such applications to the number of men who so enlisted?

I regret that the records of the Ministry do not enable me to furnish the hon. and gallant Member with this information.

asked the Minister of Pensions if he will inquire into the circumstances attending the refusal of the right to appeal for a pension of Mr. W. J. J. Higgs, 67, Buxton Road, E. 15, No. 11/M/435,984, who is certified by medical men to be suffering from disabilities due to war service; and will he reconsider the decision of the local committee?

This man's first application in respect of the ailment from which he claims to be suffering was not made until more than nine years after the termination of his active service. The representations put forward on his behalf have, however, been carefully considered in the light of a medical certificate furnished and of the report of a recent medical examination, but I am advised that there are no grounds on which further action would be justified.

asked the Minister of Pensions whether he is aware that Private F. Foulcher, No. 11/M/434,855, of No. 11, Church Street Buildings, West Ham, has been refused consideration for pension appeal; and whether, as this man is certified to be suffering from cardiac debility, he will reconsider the case?

This man's first application to the Ministry was not made until June, 1928, some 12 years after his final discharge from the Army in July, 1916. The representations made by him have been carefully considered, but there are no grounds which would justify any exceptional action.

asked the President of the Board of Education whether there is any recognised university in Great Britain where a teacher can qualify for a science or arts final degree?

I assume that the hon. Member is referring to the case of a teacher actually employed in a school and desiring to take a university degree without leaving his or her employment. It would be open to such a teacher to take a degree course at London University as an external student.

asked the President of the Board of Education what are the professional or economic circumstances responsible for the decrease in the number of male entrants to the teaching profession; and the proportionate increase of women entrants?

The information in my possession does not confirm the hon. Member's suggestion either that there has been a decrease in the number of men entering the teaching profession or that the proportion between men and women entrants has not remained fairly constant for some years. Perhaps I may refer the hon. Member to Tables 90 and 100 on pages 200 and 208 of the Statistics for 1927 [Cmd. 3091].

asked the Minister of Health how many school children in Chelsea have been treated at the local vermin-cleansing establishment in each year since 1921; and how many, approximately, of these cases relate to children living in the 927 houses belonging to the Cadogan Syndicate No. 3 complained of by the borough council?

I have been asked to reply. I am informed by the London County Council that children resident in Chelsea and Westminster may be treated either at the cleansing station in Lots Road, Chelsea, or at the cleansing station in Grosvenor Lock, Grosvenor Road, Westminster. The appended figures re- late, therefore, to the number of children from both areas treated at the two stations.

I understand that the council could not, without the expenditure of an entirely disproportionate amount of time and labour, ascertain how many of the above children came from Chelsea or how many were resident in the particular houses referred to by the hon. Member.

asked the Home Secretary whether he is aware that persons paying fines and other sums of money to the authorities at Police Courts and elsewhere do not receive a receipt, and are obliged to be content with leaving without an acknowledgment showing that they have paid the fine or any other sum ordered for payment by the Court; and will he take steps to ensure that this system is changed and some acknowledgment given to persons paying sums of money under these circumstances?

The practice varies at different Courts. As regards Metropolitan Police Courts, in the great majority of cases time is allowed for payment and in such cases receipts are given when the money is paid. If time is not allowed, the defendant passes into the custody of the gaoler, and if he finds the money later he is not given a receipt, but is given his discharge from custody. As regards the country generally, various authorities are concerned, and I could not take steps to secure the imposition of a uniform system in all Courts.

asked the Secretary of State for Air the reason for entering into contracts for the supply of foreign coke in. November 1926; the price paid; and the difference in price from the home coke contracted for by the War Office?

As regards the first part of the question, it would be impossible within the compass of an answer to give the reasons for which the coke was purchased; they are set forth in the evidence given before the Public Accounts Committee, which will he available in due course for hon. Members, and they will be found, I think, to be not without cogency. I will confine myself, therefore, to saying that the Air Ministry's action in purchasing foreign .as opposed to home coke at this juncture was taken on the advice of the Mines Department. As regards the second and third parts of the question, it is contrary to general practice to disclose the prices paid, but I am satisfied that for foreign coke they were the best which could have been obtained, representing bare cost of purchase abroad, plus delivery costs; and I am also satisfied that no real comparison is possible between the Air Ministry purchase in November and the War Office purchases of small quantities of home coke in October, before prices had risen sharply, and of large quantities in December, after the strike had ended.