asked the Minister of Labour whether she will consider introducing legislation to make it illegal to offer employment of any sort on commission only to women?

No, Sir.

asked the Minister of Transport whether, in view of the fact that the Ministry is giving, on certain conditions, a grant of 85 per cent. towards the cost, estimated at £255,000, of the reconstruction of the Kilmarnock road for six miles from Eastward Toll to the boundary between Renfrewshire and Ayrshire, he will make it one of the conditions that in the selection of the unskilled labour required preference shall be given to labour in the county of Renfrewshire with special preference to the local unemployed?

I approved a scheme for the widening and reconstruction of a section of the Kilmarnock road in Renfrewshire at an estimated cost of £190,000. I have since been informed that the estimate is increased to £260,000, but I wish it to be understood that I have not yet agreed to extend the exceptional rate of grant of 85 per cent. to the estimated additional expenditure. The exceptional measure of assistance which has been given to the work is in return for the county council's offer to assist the transfer scheme by taking 40 per cent. of the men to be employed on the work from the depressed mining areas outside the county. As regards the remaining 60 per cent., the county council have a free hand in the matter of the recruitment of labour.

asked the Minister of Labour, in view of the official statement that there are 40.6 per cent. of insured people who are workless in North Shields, how this figure is made up, giving in each case the different industries which are affected?

asked the Minister of Labour the number of persons on the registers of the Employment Exchange in

asked the Minister of Labour the number of unemployed at present registered at each of the Employment

Details are not available in respect of particular industries at 16th March, but the following table gives an industrial analysis of the numbers of insured workers recorded at the North Shields Employment Exchange as unemployed at 23rd March:

Woolwich on each Monday in February and March?

The following table gives the information desired:

Exchanges in the county of Fife, giving the figures separately for each Exchange area, and the corresponding figures for the same period of last year?

The following table gives the information desired:

asked the President of the Board of Education, in regard to the county of Staffordshire and the county borough of Walsall, respectively, the total number of elementary school children on the registers; the total number of secondary school scholarships of all kinds awarded each year; and the ratio of these scholarships awarded per 1,000 of the elementary school children on the registers?

For the county of Staffordshire, including the areas in which Part III education authorities are responsible for elementary education only, the answer to the first part of the question is 112,600, to the second part, 353, and to the third part, 3.1. The corresponding figures for Walsall are 16,600, 60 and 3.6. The figures in each case relate to the year 1930.

asked the President of the Board of Education whether he can now state if the suggested improvements in the elementary school accommodation of Worthing are contemplated in the near future; and can he give particulars?

I understand that the Worthing local education authority intend to proceed at once with the provision of two additional classrooms at Durrington council school, and with the erection of a new council school for juniors and infants, at Lyndhurst Road. Preliminary plans for the additional classrooms were approved in January last, and for the new school in November last.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he will consider the desirability of suggesting to the appropriate different Colonial Governments the acquisition of seaplanes for use in local areas?

As the form of his question indicates, the hon. Member recognises that the use of seaplanes for purposes of internal communications depends greatly on local circumstances, and I think we may be sure that in appropriate cases Colonial Governments will not fail to explore the possibilities of this means of transport.

asked the Minister of Health whether his attention has been drawn to the growing number of unqualified persons who are allowed to supply spectacles under the National Health Insurance scheme; and whether he will take steps to remedy this?

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply which was given to the hon. Member for Grimsby (Mr. Womersley) on 5th February last.

asked the Minister of Health the total and percentage infant mortality for England and Wales and the counties of Brecon and Radnor, separately, for 1930?

The provisional total of deaths under one year of age registered in England and Wales during 1930 was 38,908, equivalent to an infant mortality rate of 60 per 1,000 live births. The corresponding figures for Brecon administrative county were 61 deaths, equivalent to an infant mortality rate of 65; and for Radnor administrative county 20 deaths, equivalent to an infant mortality rate of 60.

asked the Minister of Health if he is aware that the grit emitted by the Nechells power station of the electric supply department of the Birmingham Corporation is causing injury to the health of the residents in the Nechells district; that the matter has been raised on numerous occasions during the past five years in the city council chamber; that action taken by the department from time to time has proved ineffective; and whether he will, in the interests of public health in the district, cause an official inquiry to be made into the matter?

I have no recent information on this matter, but am having inquiries made.

asked the Minister of Health what is the latest estimate of the number of totally blind persons in England and Wales?

I have no information as to the number of totally blind persons in England and Wales, but the number registered as blind within the meaning of the Blind Persons Act, 1920, was 52,727 on 31st March, 1929, the latest date for which figures are at present available.

asked the Minister of Health the number of houses erected in each month since September, 1930, in agricultural parishes in England and Wales under the Housing (Financial Provisions) Act, 1924?

So far as the numbers for the months from October, 1930, to January, 1931, inclusive are concerned, I would refer the right hon. Gentleman to the reply given on the 19th ultimo to a previous question by him on the subject. The corresponding number for the month of February, 1931, was 257. The number for March has not yet been ascertained.

asked the Secretary of State for War the numbers of employés of industrial and non-industrial grades, male and female, employed by the various War Department establishments at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, at the latest convenient date?

The number of employés of industrial and non-industrial grades, male and female, employed by the various War Department establishments at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich; on 1st January, 1931, was approximately 11,070.

asked the Secretary of State for War what are the respective percentages of reduction in national expenditure on military services in Great Britain, France, Italy, the United States of America, Japan and Russia, respectively, in the year 1930 compared with the expenditure in the year 1924?

, pursuant to his reply [OFFICIAL REPORT, 31st March, 1931; col. 913, Vol. 250], supplied the following statement:

The percentage increase or decrease in the Estimates of military expenditure in 1930 compared with 1924 of the countries referred to in the question is approximately as follows:

It should be observed that the budget figures on which these percentages are based do not all cover precisely the same ground, e.g., in the case of some countries non-effective charges are included, in some excluded, while in the case of some countries provision for air services, or even naval services, is included in the military budget. Special sums for fortifications, etc., voted outside the military budget are also excluded. The calculation in each case has been made in the currency of the country concerned, but no account has been taken of any variation which may have occurred in the purchasing power of the currency as between the years 1924 and 1930. Thus, the purchasing power of the pound sterling, the dollar and the yen has increased during the period, while that of the franc and the lire has diminished.

asked the President of the Board of Trade how many wrecks have occurred within a distance of 10 miles of Strathy Point within the last five years; whether his attention has been called to the recent wreck at Brims Ness; and whether, in these circumstances, he will give fresh consideration to the demands for the erection of a lighthouse at Strathy Point?

From the information in the possession of my Department, there appear to have been no wrecks within a distance of 10 nautical miles of Strathy Point within the period mentioned. My attention has been called to the recent casualty to the schooner "Pet" at Brims Ness, which is 11 miles east of Strathy Point. So far as the merits of the proposal for the erection of a light and fog signal on Strathy Point are concerned, I am advised that there is no change in the circumstances since the reply to the hon. and gallant Member's question on this subject of 19th February last year.

asked the President of the Board of Trade with which countries our foreign trade is carried on under the most-favoured-nation clause?

The position is still as indicated in the reply which I gave to a similar question asked by the hon. Member on 24th February last.

asked the President of the Board of Trade the quantities of leather and fabric gloves exported in 1930 prior to the expiration of the duty for the purpose of obtaining drawback?

I am unable to supply this information, as the purpose for which goods are re-exported is not recorded.

asked the Secretary to the Overseas Trade Department (1) what qualifications or certificates in the Italian and Dutch languages are possessed by the intelligence officer in charge of that section of his Department which is concerned with the markets of Italy and the Netherlands;

(2) how many intelligence officers in charge of geographical sections of his Department possess no recognised language qualifications in respect of those countries with which their sections are concerned;

(3) what previous commercial experience of the trades with, which their sections are concerned the intelligence officers in charge of the following sections of the Department have had: jewellery and silverware, electrical, agricultural and dairy machinery, and iron and steel bars and tinplate;

(4) what qualifications or certificates in the French and German languages are possessed by the intelligence officer in charge of the French and Swiss section of his Department?

Of the intelligence officers in charge of geographical sections, 20 out of 27, or 74 per cent., are conversant with the languages of one or more of the countries with which they deal. The bulk of the written translation work required in the Department is undertaken by the Department's official translator, and the Department's overseas officers normally communicate information in such a form that the question of translation does not arise. The individual intelligence officers to whom my hon. Friend's attention has been directed do not possess a knowledge of the languages mentioned in his question, though some of their colleagues do; the intelligence officers working in connection with the trades specified had no commercial experience of those trades before entering upon their present duties.

asked the President of the Board of Trade what was the total value of imports subject to duty into the United Kingdom during 1930?

pursuant to his reply [OFFICIAL REPORT, 24th February, 1931; col. 1957, Vol. 248] supplied the following statement:

The total value of imports subject to duty during the year 1930, is not available but the following statement shows for that year the declared value of goods liable to duty on importation into the United Kingdom. No account is taken of exports on drawback, while in some cases the items include goods of a non-dutiable description.

NOTE.—The above figures are provisional.

asked the Minister of Agriculture what steps he proposes to take to extend agricultural research, particularly into the causes of animal diseases?

A scheme for the development of research in animal diseases upon a considerable scale is in an advanced stage of preparation and will, I trust, be sanctioned and brought into operation at no distant date. Apart from this particular scheme. I hope that arrangements may soon be made for the organised application of the most eminent scientific and practical advice to the co-ordinated development of agricultural research. The right hon. Gentleman is no doubt aware of the notable developments already in progress; I may refer particularly to the scientific expansion rendered possible at Cambridge by the Rockefeller Benefaction, and by the sums raised by the University in connection with it, which include £50,000 from the Exchequer and £50,000 from the Empire Marketing Board.

asked the Minister of Agriculture what steps are being taken to develop sales of standardised National Mark eggs in the big towns of this country?

The sale of standardised National Mark eggs is being developed in the big towns of this country, partly by the individual effort of the larger egg packing stations in the National Mark egg scheme, but chiefly by the central co-operative selling agency of all the packing stations, National Mark Egg Central, Limited, which is marketing a rapidly growing quantity of National Mark supplies. National Mark Egg Central, Limited, has appointed accredited agents in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Nottingham, and Newcastle, and has special selling arrangements in cities in the West Riding of Yorkshire and in other areas. As a result, large buyers of eggs (co-operative societies and multiple shops) in these cities are now able to purchase, and are purchasing, regular and increasing quantities of National Mark eggs. There is ample evidence of the value attached by these important eggs buyers to being able to deal direct with a central sales organisation for National Mark eggs. The advantage to the home egg industry, with its rapidly increasing output, of an organisation which is steadily developing new markets for English eggs at the expense of imported eggs is obvious. My Department is supporting these efforts by suitable publicity.

asked the Postmaster-General the number of postmen who have been proceeded against and convicted for tampering with letters entrusted to their care whilst in pursuance of their duty during the year 1930 and to the end of February, 1931, giving each period separately and the average wage paid to these men; and what wages did the three highest and the three lowest paid men receive?

158 postmen, including temporary and part-time men, were convicted for stealing postal packets in 1930, and 26 in the first two months of 1931. It would not be possible without much research to state the wages of these men in the form desired by my hon. Friend, but for full-time postmen during the period in question wages ranged from 74s. 1d. to 29s. 9d. a week according to age, length of service, and locality; and for part-time men from 1s. 4d. to 11½d. an hour.

asked the Postmaster-General the total amount of remuneration paid as overtime to Post Office workers during the last 12 months for which figures are available?

The total amount paid as overtime to Post Office staff during the year ended 31st January, 1931, was approximately £1,220,000.

asked the Home Secretary what steps the Government propose to take to deprive ecclesiastical courts of all secular power?

I have been asked to reply. I assume that the hon. Member has in mind the proceedings in the Hauxton case. As I stated on 2nd March in reply to the hon. Member for Huntingdon (Dr. Peters), a Bill dealing with the matter is in a forward state of preparation, but I cannot at present give any indication as to the date when it will be possible to introduce it.

asked the Home Secretary whether, in view of the present state of the law relating to imprisonment for non-payment of rates and other small debts, he will introduce amending legislation to prevent debtors being committed to prison?

I do not see my way to introduce legislation to prevent imprisonment in the last resort to enforce payment of various sums due under orders of courts.

asked the Home Secretary how many disused prisons in England and Wales have been sold during the last five years; in which cases purchasers have applied for permits to remove the bodies of executed murderers buried within the precincts; how many bodies have been so removed; whether it was found that the condition of the remains was such as to indicate that the method of interring these executed persons had in all cases been satisfactory; whether the method of burying executed persons has since been changed; and whether he is satisfied that the present practice does not in any way adversely affect the health of the prison population?

Twelve disused prisons have been sold during the last five years. In two cases the purchasers applied for and obtained licences with a view to the removal and re-burial of the remains of executed murderers. Only one removal was effected, of four bodies. In the case of four other prisons removals of several bodies were effected by the prison authorities. In the case of all five prisons, the bodies were buried long ago, and their condition throws no light on the efficacy of the modern method, which I am advised by the most competent authority is such that there is no adverse effect on the health of the prison population.

asked the Home Secretary if he is aware of the grave dissatisfaction in Scotland caused by the attitude of the medical referees under the Workmen's Compensation Act; and whether he will appoint a small committee to survey the decisions of such referees with a view to rectifying a longstanding complaint?

I have received complaints as to several of the medical referees appointed for Lanarkshire, but the allegations have been of a general character, to the effect that the referees are biased against the workmen and that their decisions are unfair, and they have not been supported by evidence. Particulars of only three cases in which it was alleged that the workman had been unjustly treated have been submitted; and while I am not in a position to review the decisions of referees, I have carefully examined these particulars and cannot find anything in them to sustain such a charge. Great pains are taken to appoint as referees doctors of the highest possible standing and professional qualifications; and once a person is appointed to a judicial post of this kind he is entitled to expect that the Home Secretary will not countenance charges of unfairness except on clear and definite evidence of incompetence or bias. A general survey of the kind mentioned in the question, even if practicable, would not in the circumstances be justified.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland the number of children under the age of 12 months who died in Scotland during the year 1930?

The number of children under the age of 12 months who died in Scotland in 1930 was 7,851, which represents an infantile mortality rate of 83 per 1,000.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether, in view of the fact that the fall since 1929 in the rate of interest on which debenture capital can now be obtained in the money market exceeds 5s. per cent. which was the annual payment required to repay a long credit loan for a period of 60 years, it is part of the arrangement with the four Scottish banks who have agreed to subscribe the share capital of the company proposed to be formed under the Agricultural Credits (Scotland) Act, 1929, that the benefit arising from the fall in the rate of interest shall go to the borrowers from the company or to the Treasury in reduction of the financial assistance being given by it to the company and not to the four shareholding banks?

The terms upon which the debenture stock is issued will no doubt be a factor which will be taken into account when the question of fixing the rates of interest to be charged to borrowers is dealt with, and, as stated in my reply of yesterday to the hon. Member for Forfar (Sir H. Hope), this is a matter which is primarily for the consideration of the Agricultural Security Company, when formed. The terms upon which the Treasury will make advances to the company are prescribed by the Act and the condition of the money market does not affect them. The Act provides that the dividends on the share capital subscribed by the banks shall be restricted to 5 per cent. per annum.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he will take steps to secure that no tenant of a house which is declared to be uninhabitable under the Housing (Scotland) Act, 1930, will be required to pay, in respect of such a house, either rates or any increased rent which is permitted by the Rent Restriction Acts?

As regards the rent payable in such a case, I would refer my hon. Friend to the provisions for the protection of tenants in Sub-section (2) of Section 2 of the Increase of Rent and Mortgage Interest (Restrictions) Act, 1920, and Section 5 of the Rent and Mortgage Interest Restrictions Act, 1923. Legislation would be required to exempt the occupiers of the houses in question from the liability to pay rates, and I am not in a position to give any undertaking as to this.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is yet able to indicate the extent of the reductions in Cabinet Ministers' salaries proposed in the interests of economy?

I cannot add anything to the reply given by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer to a similar question by the right hon. Gentleman the Member for West Woolwich (Sir K. Wood) on 16th February.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what reply he has given to representations made to him that there should be an increased import tax on sugar?

My right hon. Friend will give due consideration to the representations made to him on this subject; but it is not possible to make any statement in advance of the Budget.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the amount of the British Debt to the United States of America on 16th January, 1923, and 16th January, 1931, respectively, in pounds sterling at the rate of exchange prevailing on each date?

The particulars are as follow:

asked the Minister of Pensions (1) whether he is prepared to consider the claim to a pension of F. G. Fawcett, 3, Albion Street, Stockton-on-Tees, who is totally unfit, for work, and whose increasing bad health has occurred since his discharge from the Army, as a consequence of wounds and enteric fever, due to War service and detention in a German camp;

(2) whether he has received a report from his medical advisers concerning F. Q. Fawcett, 3, Albion Street, Stockton-on-Tees, as a result of a recent period of observation in the Ministry of Pensions' hospital, Liverpool; and if he will state the result of his consideration of such report?

Mr. Fawcett claimed pension originally in respect of debility and neurasthenia but after careful examination of his case, and giving full weight to his service experiences, it could not be certified that his disablement was a consequence of War service. This decision was confirmed on appeal by the independent Pensions Appeal Tribunal. More recently Mr. Fawcett has made a claim on the ground of organic disease of the heart, in support of which he adduced attacks of enteric fever and dysentery while on service. After a course of observation in a Ministry hospital, with a view to determining his condition, a report of the medical officers of the hospital establishes that Mr. Fawcett is not suffering from organic heart disease and that there is no trace of enteric fever or dysentery. In these circumstances, I regret there are no grounds on which I should have authority to make an award of pension in this case.