asked the Secretary of State for War whether his attention has been drawn to notices appearing in Employment Exchanges intimating that there are vacancies in training centres such as Aldershot, asking for assistant instructors in various trades, but stating in a footnote that no one west of an imaginary line drawn from Bristol to Weymouth may apply; and if he will give instructions for this notice to be restricted to the area concerned?

The area of the publication of the notices to which the hon. and gallant Member refers was decided by the Ministry of Labour in order to fill the vacancies notified by the military authorities concerned. The vacancies have been filled, and the notices are no longer in force.

asked the Secretary of State for War the number of employés of industrial grade employed in the ordnance department at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, on 1st June, 1929, and at the last convenient date, respectively?

The approximate number of employés of industrial grades employed in the ordnance department at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, on 1st June, 1929, and 1st April, 1931, was 710 and 800 respectively.

asked the Minister of Health the cost of administering the Blind Persons Act, 1920, in England and Wales; the total number of registered blind persons in England and Wales on 31st March, 1931; the total number of blind persons between the ages of 50 and 70 years and the number who are in receipt of blind old-age pensions, stating the reason why the remainder are not being granted pensions; the total number of blind old-age pensioners over 70 years of age; the number of blind persons in England and Wales under the various age-groups: 0–5 years, 5–16 years, 16–21 years, 21–30 years, 30–40 years, and 40–50 years; the total cost of pensions paid to persons under the Blind Persons Act, 1920; and the number of blind persons who are in receipt of Poor Law relief and the average amount paid?

No complete figures are available of the total cost of administering the Blind Persons Act, 1920. The total number of registered blind persons in England and Wales was 52,727 on 31st March, 1929, the latest date for which official figures are at present available. According to unofficial figures obtained from the Counties' Associations for the Blind there were 56,853 registered blind persons on 31st March, 1930. Of that number, 22,002 were between the ages of 50 and 70, and 19,048 were in receipt of blind old age pensions. The estimated number in receipt of such pensions on 31st March, 1931, was 20,300. The remainder were not in receipt of pensions, either because they had not applied for a pension or because they did not comply with the statutory conditions for a pension. The number of blind old age pensioners over the age of 70 is not known, because after attaining that age blind pensioners rank as ordinary old age pensioners, "blindness" ceasing to be a statutory condition for a pension. The following table gives the number of blind persons in England and Wales on 31st March, 1930, under the age groups mentioned, according to the unofficial figures referred to above:

Ages.					Number.
0– 5	…	…	…	…	267
5–16	…	…	…	…	2,461
16–21	…	…	…	…	1,637
21–50	…	…	…	…	14,354

Separate figures are lot available for the age groups 21–30, 31–40, and 41–50. The total cost of pensions paid to persons in England and Wales under the Blind Persons Act, 1920, for the year ended 31st March, 1931, was £512,000, and the estimated cost of administration for that year was £12,500 The information asked for in the last part of the question is not available.

asked the Minister of Health what steps his Department is taking to give effect to the recommendation of the Rolleston Vaccination Com- mittee, in their recent report, that every public vaccinator should be prepared to carry out a second operative procedure to mitigate the risk of nervous complications after vaccination?

I cannot find any such recommendation in the report to which my hon. Friend refers.

asked the Minister of Health how many widows have received pensions since the coming into force of the Act of 1929 up to the latest date for which figures are available?

Up to the commencement of the present month, 302,737 pensions were awarded under the 1929 Act to widows in Great Britain.

asked the Postmaster-General if he will consider the desirability of accepting letters from unemployed persons making written application for employment without stamps, either by passing letters free if left unsealed and endorsed "Application for Employment," or by supplying franked envelopes to the managers of Employment Exchanges for the use of unemployed persons seeking employment, such envelopes to be sealed by the staff at the Exchange?

I have no power to admit such letters without prepayment of postage.

asked the First Commissioner of Works whether preference is given to unemployed men registered in the Tring, Berkhamstead and Hemel Hempstead area for work in connection with the restoration of Berkhamstead Castle as against London unemployed men or miners: and the number, respectively, of local and imported unemployed men at present engaged upon the work?

The labour required for this work is obtained through the local Employment Exchange. At the present time 162 men are employed, 42 of whom are from the depressed areas.

asked the Minister of Labour, at the latest convenient date, how many persons are employed in the United Kingdom in new industries begun since the War to which no protection is accorded?

I regret that statistics giving the information desired are not available.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether the Nab Tower has any aids to navigation other than a light and fog signals; and, if not, whether he contemplates any additions?

There are no aids to navigation at the Nab Tower other than the light and fog signals. I am informed by the Trinity House that no addition is contemplated.

asked the President of the Board of Trade the amount of tea imported from foreign and Empire sources, respectively, for the years 1928, 1929, and 1930?

As stated in the "Accounts relating to Trade and Navigation of the United Kingdom" for December last, the total quantities of tea imported into the United Kingdom during the years 1928, 1929 and 1930 and registered as consigned from foreign countries and British countries, respectively, were as follow:

Year.			Imports consigned from
			Foreign Countries.	British Countries.
			Million lbs.	Million lbs.
1928	…	…	79·2	429·7
1929	…	…	96·5	462·6
1930	…	…	96·0	445·4

NOTE.—The figures for 1930 are provisional.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he can ascertain and publish, either as a White Paper or in the OFFICIAL REPORT, in the form of a genealogical tree, a plan showing the American financial interests controlling picture theatres in Great Britain and the films exhibited in them?

I regret that I am not in a position to provide the hon. and gallant Member with the plan he desires, but I may say that I have no reason to suppose that any considerable number of picture theatres in this country are controlled by American financial interests. Of the films, British and foreign, registered under the Cinematograph Films Act in the last year between 50 and 60 per cent. were registered in the names of renting houses which are subsidiaries of United States concerns.