asked the President of t he Board, of Trade if there has been any appreciable increase in the price of the necessaries of life during the past fortnight; and, if so, the articles which have become dearer and the percentage increase?

As regards wholesale prices, there have been certain increases in market quotations, and I have furnished to the hon. Member for Kettering (Mr. Perry) particulars regarding the increases in wholesale prices of some important foodstuffs. As regards retail prices, apart from a rise in butter which is not universal, I am not aware of any increases during the past fortnight.

asked the President of the Board of Trade what at the last date for which figures are available was the tonnage of ships under construction in British shipyards; and how does this figure compare with the corresponding figures for 1929 and 1930?

According to the returns published by Lloyd's Register of Shipping, the tonnage of merchant vessels of 100 tons gross and upwards under construction in Great Britain and Ireland was 556,000 tons gross on 30th June, 1931, the latest date for which the information is available. On 30th June, 1929 and 1930, the figures were 1,454,000 and 1,392,000 tons gross respectively.

asked the President of the Board of Education in view of the objections of teachers to paying the 5 per cent. compulsory contribution to superannuation, how much annually is contributed by the teachers; and what is the liability of the State in respect of such pensions now and also before the War, when there was no contributory scheme?

The contribution for superannuation paid by teachers in the year 1930–31 amounted to £2,624,134. The liability of the State is, in effect, to provide the whole cost of pensions and associated benefits attributable to service prior to the beginning of the contributory system and to pay a proportion of the 5 per cent. contribution of the local authorities. It is actuarially estimated that the State thus bears about 80 per cent. of the cost in the case of teachers serving when the present system was introduced and nearly 30 per cent. in the case of sub- sequent entrants. Under the system in force before 1918 the main liability of the State was to provide a superannuation allowance of £1 a year for each year of the service of a certificated elementary teacher, with a small supplement in the older cases for service prior to 1899, but this was only payable from the age of 65. It is estimated that in respect of the then existing body of teachers the change of system, combined with the subsequent increase of salaries, multiplied the liability of the State five-fold.

asked the President of the Board of Education the number of teachers in Wales, and in the counties of Brecon and Radnor, separately, who will be affected by the proposed cuts in salaries; what is the total amount of their annual salaries at existing scales; and the amount that will be paid under the new conditions?

I regret that it is not possible to answer this question in the precise form in which it is put, but it will be seen from Circular 1413, of which I am sending the hon. Member a copy, that, as regards the reduction of 10 per cent. in teachers' salaries, the Board are primarily concerned with the total expenditure under this head which is to be taken into account for purposes of their grant, and the following table therefore gives in substance the required information:

—	Number of teachers in regular employment in schools maintained by local education authorities on 31st March, 1930.	Expenditure of Local Education Authorities on teachers' salaries for the year 1930–31.
		£
Brecon	373	74,856
Radnor	152	32,069
Wales (all areas).	16,290	3,968,916

The figures of expenditure include some payments in respect of emergency or part-time teachers, and cannot be directly related to the numbers of teachers as given.In addition, the following numbers of teachers were employed on 31st March, 1930, in secondary schools, training

colleges, and special schools, not maintained by local education authorities; but it would not be practicable, without a special scrutiny of all the school accounts concerned, to state the expenditure incurred on their salaries:

Brecon	…	…	49
Radnor	…	…	—
Wales (all areas)	…	…	1,248

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether figures are available for any of the years subsequent to 1918–19 showing, as in Table 63 of the Sixty-third Report of the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, the net produce and percentage of the Income Tax under each schedule?

This information is no longer available. Under the present system of graduation and differentiation of the Income Tax with personal allowances, deductions and reliefs related, not to the various sources of income charged under each schedule, but to the total income of the taxpayer, the total net produce of the tax cannot be divided between the respective schedules.