asked the President of the Board of Trade the total amount of imports of wheat into Great Britain and Northern Ireland from Russia and the Argentine, respectively, for the years ended July, 1927, 1928, 1929 and 1930?

During the years ended 31st July, 1927, 1928, 1929 and 1930, the total quantity of wheat imported into the United Kingdom and registered as consigned from the Soviet Union (Russia) amounted to 4,222,000 cwt., 519,000 cwt., 56,000 cwt., and 804,000 cwt., respectively, and from the Argentine Republic 16,169,000 cwt., 22,362,000 cwt., 28,381,000 cwt., and 35,904,000 cwt., respectively.

asked the Minister of Health the amount paid in housing subsidies since 1918, and the amount estimated to be expended during the current financial year?

The total amount paid in housing subsidies in England and Wales since 1918 is £94,936,465. The amount estimated to be expended during the current financial year is £11,855,000.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he can now give any information as to the numbers of military reservists proposed to be raised in the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics?

According to the best available information, about 1,200,000 men are called up annually for training in the Soviet Union, of whom 400,000 are rejected at once on various grounds. Of the remainder, 450,000 are drafted into regular and territorial armies, and 350,000 receive military instruction in factories and other organisations. His Majesty's Ambassador has been officially informed by the Commissariat for Foreign Affairs that all rumours with regard to an increase in the reserve of the Red Army are without foundation.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the unofficial members of the Cypriot economy committee were selected by the Legislative Council or nominated by the Governor?

I have no exact information on this point; but inquiries will be made of the Governor, and I will inform my hon. Friend of the result in due course.

asked the President of the Board of Education with regard to the application of the West Ham Council to sanction the erection of the Tolgate school, whether he will state the conditions under which it is to be erected; what is the estimate of the cost; whether any application has been made to sanction the building of the school by the council's works department; and whether in any case it will be the subject of public tender?

My Department has under consideration a proposal by the West Ham local education authority for the erection of the Tolgate council school by the borough council's works department, and is at present in communication with the authority on the question whether tenders are to be invited.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Air the number of deaths due to accidents that have taken place to service flying machines at home and abroad for the year ending 31st December, 1930?

During the period in question there were 46 fatal accidents involving 64 deaths in the Royal Air Force.

asked the Minister of Labour whether she can give an index number of wages for December, 1930, or for the latest available month, as against the average wage level during the year 1926 for England and Germany, respectively?

For Germany, the available information, relating to wage rates fixed by collective agreements for adult workers in the principal industries, indicates that in September, 1930, the latest date for which full particulars have been published, weekly full time rates of wages showed increases, as compared with the average level of the year 1926, averaging approximately 19 per cent. for skilled workers and 22 per cent. for unskilled workers. In Great Britain, weekly full time rates of wages, both in September and in December, 1930, are estimated, on the basis of such information as is in the possession of the Ministry of Labour, to have been between 2 and 2½ per cent. on average, below the level of 1926. These figures do not reflect changes in actual earnings resulting from variations in the state of employment and other causes, as to which statistics are not available. As regards real wages, according to statistics published by the International Labour Office, the purchasing power in terms of food of wages in Berlin, 1926, was about 70 per cent. of the purchasing power of wages in London, while in July, 1930, the corresponding index number for Germany (six towns only) was 74 as compared with 100 for Great Britain (seven towns only), the basis of these index numbers having been changed.

asked the Home Secretary whether he has received a report from the inspector of factories of the fatal accident which occurred at the New Electron Works, East Ham, which resulted in the death of a youth aged 17; whether he is satisfied that due precautions were taken by the firm for safeguarding the employés working on the crushers; and what action he proposes to take in the matter?

My right hon. Friend has received a report by the factory inspector on this distressing accident. The case is receiving very careful consideration, but my right hon. Friend is not yet in a position to make any statement.

asked the Home Secretary for a list, of countries, if any, who do not imprison for debt where there is proved incapacity to pay?

The information is not available in the Home Office.

asked the Home Secretary the number of circuses registered in this country; the total number of performing animals in each; and which contain the following: bears, apes, lions, tigers, leopards, pumas, panthers, hyenas, and cheetahs?

I am not in a position to give this information. The Performing Animals (Regulation) Act does not require circuses as such to be registered; and the particulars prescribed by the Regulations do not show where the exhibition of animals takes place.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury the respective number of theatres and cinemas in England, Scotland, and Wales at any convenient date?

With regard to theatres, I regret that no information is available. I understand that the total number of cinemas in operation in 4,335, but I am unable to say how many of these are situated in England, Scotland and Wales respectively.

asked the Secretary for Mines whether he has any information in regard to the stocks of coal in the chief producing areas of the Continent, such as the Ruhr, Westphalia, and Silesia, owing to industrial depression; and can he give any comparative figures to indicate how the present exports of British coal compare with that of six and 12 months ago, respectively?

The particulars of stocks of coal are as follow:

asked the Minister of Transport whether the entire quantity of steel pylons and cable used in connection with the Electricity Grid Scheme, both in the parts completed and under construction, is of British manufacture; and, if not, what proportion is of foreign origin?

I am informed that the steel towers and the cables used in connection with the Electricity Grid Scheme are of British manufacture throughout.

asked the Minister of Agriculture if he can make a statement on the proceedings of the conference now sitting at Paris to devise methods for the disposal of the surplus produce of the agrarian states of Europe; and, seeing that special subsidies and organised credits are being established for the export of cereals and other agricultural products from those countries to Great Britain, will His Majesty's Government take measures to safeguard British agriculture against dumping agricultural produce in this country?

With regard to the first part of the question, I would refer the hon. Member to the statement made by the President of the Board of Trade on 3rd March in reply to a question by the hon. and gallant Member for South Paddington (Vice-Admiral Taylor). As regards the second part, I am informed that the question of the international organisation of agricultural credits is at present under consideration by the Financial Committee of the League of Nations, and the Paris Conference confined itself to noting this fact. The Committee's inquiry is not concerned with export subsidies or organised dumping of agricultural produce in this country or elsewhere. In any event I have nothing to add to my previous statements on the subject.