asked the Secretary to the Overseas Trade Department the extent to which the Governments of Germany, France, Belgium and the United States are guarantors for the credits of their exporters of goods to Soviet Russia?

The Governments of Germany and Belgium guarantee credits given in connection with the export of German and Belgian goods respectively, but do not disclose the extent to which exports to Russia have been so guaranteed. I understand that transactions with Russia do not come within the scope of the French Government's scheme, and that the Government of the United States of America does not guarantee any export credit transactions.

asked the Secretary to the Overseas Trade Department the number of contracts under the Export Credits Guarantee Scheme which have been entered into with exporters to foreign countries, for the two years ended to the last convenient date, that have resulted in a loss to the British Government; and will he give particulars?

Out of the contracts entered into by the Export Credits Guarantee Department during the two years ended 31st March last, 428 have resulted in a loss or are likely to result in a loss so far as can at present be foreseen. As regards the second part of the question, it is not the practice to give particulars of individual cases.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he is aware that there has been a great increase in the imports of cotton piece goods during the past 11 months, while our exports of cotton piece goods are down by over 1,000,000,000 yards in the same period; and whether he is taking any steps to increase the exports?

The statement in the first part of the question concerning exports is correct, but net imports increased in the period mentioned by little more than 2 per cent. as compared with the corresponding period of the previous year. In reply to the second part of the question, the efforts which the Government are making to encourage and aid the industry in placing itself upon a better competitive basis have, of course, as their object the stimulation of the export trade. I may refer, in this connection, to the Economic Mission to the Far East to which is attached a Special Cotton Mission; the Economic Mission which recently returned from South Africa and the Rhodesias; the Trade Mission which leaves shortly for Egypt; and the Cotton Exhibition which is about to be held in conjunction with the British Industries Fair.

asked the President of the Board of Education if he will bring up to the latest available date the information given to the hon. Member for South Shields in columns 1643–44 of the OFFICIAL REPORT for 4th April, 1930?

The following table gives the complete figures for the

asked the President of the Board of Education if he will bring up to the latest available date the information given to the hon. Member for South

asked the Minister of Transport whether he is in a position to make any statement as to the further proposed extensions of the tube railways in the London area?

The following table gives the figures for the years ended 31st March, 1929, and 31st March, 1930:

I am not aware of any proposals for the extension of tube railways in the London area at the present time apart, from the line from Finsbury Park to Cockfosters, which was authorised last Session. An extension of the London Electric and Metropolitan District Railways westwards from Hammersmith to Northfields is also being undertaken.

asked the Secretary of State for India whether he can make a statement as to the present position in India?

The Government of India have issued the following appreciation of the situation up to 17th January:

asked the Minister of Labour the rates of wages in the different grades of the iron and steel industry in Belgium, Luxemburg, and Czechoslovakia, compared with the wages of similar grades of labour in the United Kingdom?

The only information available regarding the wages of iron and steel workers in Belgium, Luxemburg and Czechoslovakia is given in the report, published as a White Paper in June, 1930, (Cmd. 3601), of the delegation which visited certain countries on the Continent in order to investigate the industrial conditions in the iron and steel industry. I understand that the Belgian National Joint Commission for the Iron and Steel Industry agreed to reduce the wages of iron and steel workers in Belgium by 2½ per cent. from 1st December, 1930, and that a further reduction of 2½ per cent. will take place on 1st February, 1931, if the industrial situation does not in the meanwhile improve. I have no information regarding wage movements, if any, during the past 12 months, in the iron and steel industry of the other countries named. In Great Britain the average earnings of workpeople in the iron and steel industry in October, 1930, the latest date for which figures are available, were 55s. 7d. a week, according to statistics issued by the National Federation of Iron and Steel Manufacturers.

asked the Financial Secretary to the War Office what is the total amount of the grant paid in maintenance of the officers' training corps; and on what basis each school receives its individual grant?

As regards the first part of the question, the provision during the current financial year for the efficiency and other grants to the Junior Division of the Officers Training Corps is £40,100, as shown on page 62 of Army Estimates. As regards the second part, I am sending the hon. Member a copy of the relevant paragraphs of the Regulations for the Officers Training Corps.

asked the Minister of Labour the numbers of agricultural labourers who have applied for employment at the offices of Boston, Grimsby, Lincoln, and Scunthorpe and their sub-offices at the latest convenient date?

pursuant to her reply [OFFICIAL REPORT, 19th December, cols. 1651–2, Vol. 246], supplied the following statement:—